Our Story
by CleverlyCareless
Summary: Audrey and Percy Weasley tell their children the story of how they met and how they eventually fell in love.
1. We're Going to be Good Friends

Chapter One: "We're going to be good friends, I just know it"

Audrey walked into the living room of her home and set a fresh batch of cookies down for her daughters to eat. She took a seat on the large chair and watched with a smile as her girls excitedly raced to get a cookie. Molly, her youngest, climbed onto her lap with a mouth full of cookie, while her older daughter, Lucy, sat on the floor, reading a book she had gotten from her father. Both girls looked so much like Percy, with curly red hair, and freckles. Lucy even had a pair of horn-rimmed glasses; she was her father's daughter in every way.

As the girls discussed cookies and Lucy's book Audrey snuck a peak at the clock. Percy's hand was firmly situated at work, she noticed, which not an uncommon sight. The clock had been a gift from Percy's mother and it kept track of each member of the family. It had become a tool she relied on, keeping her from worrying more than necessary.

"Looks like your Dad's staying late at work tonight." She said to her daughters.

"Mummy how did you meet Daddy?" Molly asked, looking up at her Audrey with large, interested eyes.

"Well, that's quite a story; would you like me to tell you?" Audrey asked. She smiled a bit when she noticed Lucy turn towards her with interest.

"Yea, how did you and Dad meet?" Lucy asked.

Audrey smiled as she thought back to her first day at Hogwarts, the first day she met Percy.

_Audrey skipped absentmindedly through the halls of the train, looking for a good place to sit. She was very picky about whom she wanted to sit with, and so far she hadn't found anyone that struck her fancy. As she looked into each of the cars she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as she spotted a nearly empty car ahead of her. She quickly decided this was her spot, no doubt about it, she could practically see her name written on it. She stood at the door for a second just looking in. A nervous looking boy who seemed to be about her age sat in the car alone with an open book in his lap. He looked over noticing her in the door and gave her a weak smile. She smiled back as she opened the door and sat down across from him._

"_Hello there!" She said with a smile._

"_Hi." He said, tilting his head just slightly, looking bewildered._

_"What's your name?" She asked, mirroring his head tilt._

"_Um, Percy, Percy Weasley." He said. _

"_You have a very odd name Percy Weasley, but I like it! I'm Audrey Darcy, by the way." She said holding out her hand._

_He just looked at it for a second before he reached out and shook it timidly, as if she might bite. "It's nice to meet you." He added, remembering is manners._

"_You too. Is it your first year at Hogwarts?" She asked looking out the window, watching the country side fly past._

"_Yes, yours?" He asked._

"_Yes. It's going to be brilliant, don't you think?" She asked._

"_I hope so." He said looking down at his feet._

_She turned away from the window with a serious expression. "You're not nervous, are you?" She asked._

"_My brothers go and they told me horror stories about it. The hat that sorts you into your house, it bites you know!" He said, matter-of-factly. _

"_That's rubbish! My uncle says that Hogwarts is probably the best place ever, and he knows everything about everything." She said. "Besides it can't be that bad, if they survived." She said with a smile._

_He thought about it for a second then looked back at her with a huge smile. "You're right, I never thought of it that way." He said._

"_You and I are going to be good friends, Percy Weasley, I can tell already." She said._

"_Oh, really? How do you know?" he asked._

_She shrugged. "I'm not sure, I just sort of know." She said. _

"_I hope you're right." Percy said quietly, mostly to himself._

_Percy and Audrey spent the entire ride to Hogwarts chattering quickly and excitedly. They talked about everything they could think of, mostly about school, and what they thought it would be like. Percy told her stories about his family and his home. Audrey listened intently, interjecting stories of her own family or home from time to time._

"_And you should see the garden gnomes," Percy said. He opened his mouth to finish his thought as the train squealed to a stop._

_Audrey's attention immediately turned to the window. She turned back to Percy with a smile. "We're here!" She said excitedly as she jumped up. _

_Percy stared out the window for a few minutes, not moving. "There sure are a lot of students." He said._

_She grabbed his shoulders and turned him to look at her. "Don't worry, we'll go together." She said as she grabbed his hand. She tugged him out of his seat and began pulling him towards the platform and off the train._

"_What if we don't get sorted into the same house?" Percy asked her as they stepped off the train. _

"_We will both be Gryffindors, I'm sure of it." She said as they followed the others towards the boats._

_As they were walking they were stopped by a very tall, older redhead. "Who's this then?" the boy asked Percy with a sly smile._

_Percy immediately dropped Audrey's hand, and looked up at the boy. "Bill, this is Audrey, we met on the train." Percy explained, not looking Bill in the eye._

_Audrey watched Percy for a second before she held her hand. "It's nice to meet you, I'm Audrey." She said matter-of-factly._

_Bill looked down at it for a second before awkwardly taking her hand and giving it a little shake. "Yea, yea I caught that." He said. He looked over at the water. "I'd better not keep you from your boats. I'll see you in there Percy, and it was nice to meet you Audrey." he said._

_Audrey waved enthusiastically as he walked off. "Well he seemed nice, who was he?" She asked Percy as they both climbed into a boat._

"_My brother." Percy said absentmindedly as he stared at Hogwarts in awe. "I've seen pictures, and read about it in the books, but I never imagined it looking like this." He said._

_She watched, just as captivated, and couldn't help but smile. "It's brilliant, just like I suspected."_

_As the boats landed on shore Percy got out first and grabbed Audrey's hand to help her out of the boat. She climbed out, and thought nothing of the fact that Percy continued to hold her hand as they walked into the great hall. Both of them looked around not believing their eyes as they took in just how large and grand Hogwarts really was._

Audrey smiled down at Molly who was looking up at her in awe.

"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts." She said.

"Soon." Audrey said with a smile.

"Did you and dad get sorted into the same house?" Lucy asked. During the story she had scooted closer, so she was nearly touching the chair.

Audrey nodded. "We did. It was a very proud moment for me, when I became a Gryffindor." She explained.

"Was Uncle Bill nice to you? When did Uncle George start school? Did you ever go to the Burrow to meet Gran and Gramp on holiday? When did you realize that you were in love with dad? Was it on the train?" Lucy asked, speeding through each question, just to ask another.

Her mum just laughed. "No, I didn't realize that until much later. At a ball, but that's a story for another time." she started; she looked over at the clock, and noticed that Percy's hand had moved to traveling. She started nudging the girls up. "Now you two had better get up to bed before your dad gets home and realizes I let you stay up past your bed time." She said with a smile.

"If we are quick to bed will you tell us more?" Molly asked.

"Only if you're quick to bed." Audrey said.

The two didn't waste a second running out of the room, bounding up the stairs towards their bedroom. Audrey could hear dresser drawers open and slam shut and the sound of them jumping into bed. She pulled out her wand and extinguished the fire she had going, watching as the last of the flames dance back into her wand. With a sigh she turned around, only to see Percy standing in the doorway. She jumped a bit, shocked at his quiet appearance.

"The girls are up late, I see." He said.

"I'm sure they'll be asleep soon." Audrey said. She pulled him close and hugged him tight, kissing his cheek. Every time he walked back though the door she felt the stress and the nerves of the day just vanish. She had grown into a worrier after the events of years past, and there was nothing better to calm her nerves then seeing him come home safely each and every day. It never failed, that first sight of him made her want to hug him and never let him go.

"Well, not before they here the next part of the story, of course." Percy reminded her with the knowing smile he wore so well.

"Well, I did promise." She said. "I bet they'd love it if you came up and helped tell the story." She added, laying her head on his shoulder, still hugging him tightly.

"I'm going to have to; otherwise you're going to paint me all wrong." He said.

"You mean I wasn't supposed to tell them that you're a nargle?" She said.

"What in Merlin's beard is a nargle?" Percy asked.

"Honestly, I'm not exactly sure." She said with a smile, as she grabbed his hand and walked up the stairs towards the girls' room. "But I'm sure it bares a strong resemblance to you." She added with a laugh.

"Sometimes I wonder about you." Percy said shaking his head.

"Only sometimes?" she said, giving him a wink.


	2. After all These Years

Chapter 2: After All These Years

Both girls sat in their beds whispering excitedly to each other as they waited for their mum to come tuck them in. Their eyes lit up when they saw Percy walk in the room.

"Dad, you're home!" Lucy said excitedly.

"Mummy's been telling us about how you met." Molly told him.

"Has she? What has she told you so far?" Percy asked.

"Only about meeting you on the train, and getting sorted into Gryffindor." Lucy said, catching him up.

Percy smiled, as he pulled up the chair next to Lucy's bed and had a seat. Audrey pulled Molly's blanket up and wrapped it around her as Molly curled up next to her.

"Well, I suppose you'll want to know what happened next." Percy said. The girls just nodded as they grabbed their teddy bears and got cozy.

_Weeks had passed since they had first arrived at Hogwarts, and Percy and Audrey sat quietly looking over their books in the library. Percy had made it a force of habit that they should study at least two hours every school night. While Percy worked quickly, completing multiple drafts of his essays and then studying ahead, always preparing for the next lesson, Audrey spent her time struggling to complete the assigned work, rarely finding time or the ambition to study ahead._

_Defeated, Audrey dropped her head down onto the book that sat in front of her. "Percy, I can't study any longer. We've been at it for hours." She whined._

"_And you still haven't finished the second draft of your potions essay." Percy rebuked._

"_And I never will. I'm handing in my first draft. If I have to stare at this book a minute longer I'm liable to go mad." Audrey said standing up._

"_Now you're just being over-dramatic. You're never going to make prefect with that attitude." Percy explained. _

_Audrey slumped back into her seat. "I have years to work on being prefect; today however, I don't care to work on it. It's such a nice day, can't we go outside?" she asked, her eyes begging him to comply._

"_And do what?" Percy asked, looking at her skeptically, sure that she was imagining another one of her outlandish plans._

"_Anything, we can just lie in the grass and enjoy the weather." She suggested._

_Percy thought about it for a second. "Alright." he said, closing his book._

"_Really?" Audrey asked, shocked that he had given in so quickly._

"_Sure, we can study out there. Natural light is much better for reading anyway, and you still have that second draft to finish." He explained with a knowing smile._

_Audrey put her head in her hands for a second, wondering how long it took him to perfect that smile that drove her absolutely mad. After a minute of internal debate she decided that she'd better take what little bit she was given. "You're impossible, but fine, the smell of old book is starting to make me nauseous, fresh air will do me some good." She said as she slammed her book shut._

"_Will you be quiet, this is a library." The librarian scolded, popping out of a near-by bookshelf._

"_Sorry." Audrey apologized in a whisper, her cheeks turning red. She quickly picked up her book and herded Percy out into the sunlight and onto the nearly empty school grounds. She shielded her eyes with her hand as she looked for a good place to sit. She spotted an older tree that provided just enough shade, but still allowed warm sunbeams to burst in, that would be the perfect place to study, she thought. "By that tree, that's a good spot." She pointed out as she skipped over to it. _

"_This will be alright." Percy said sitting down. He wasted no time and opened his book to continue to study._

_Audrey laid on her back in the grass, staring up at the clouds. "What are your mum and dad like?" She asked. _

_Percy looked up from his book. "Nice, I suppose." He said simply._

_She turned over onto her side to look at him. "That's not an answer. You told me all about your brothers and your sister, now I want to know about your parents." Audrey said shaking her head at him._

_Percy looked up from his book and fiddled with the pages for a second, thinking about his answer. "Oh, well, my dad, he works for the ministry. He really likes to learn about muggle things. He's always finding things and trying to figure out what muggles use them for." He explained._

"_And your mum?" Audrey asked._

"_She's nice. She's kind of nosey sometimes, but she usually keeps Fred and George from teaming up on anyone, and she's always busy. I guess that's part of being a mum to seven kids." Percy said with a smile. "You know they fought against, you-know-who in the war." He added._

_Audrey sat up, and turned towards him. "So did my mum and dad!" She said excitedly. "I bet they knew each other." She thought._

"_What are your parents like?" Percy asked, shutting his book and turning to face Audrey._

_Audrey smiled, the question taking her mind a million miles away. "They were fun, and really nice. They used to have a sweets shop in Diagon Alley." She said._

"_Why don't they anymore?" Percy asked, he was so intrigued by the look in her eyes that he didn't catch on to what she was saying._

_She looked down at her hands, and sighed. "They were just about to close up the shop when the Death Eaters showed up; they didn't even have a chance." She said. She kept her head down for fear that Percy would see her eyes start to glisten with tears. "See my dad was muggle-born, so when the war broke out he took to caring for muggle-borns, and their families." She explained._

"_How come you never told me?" Percy asked._

_She shrugged. "You never asked."_

"_I'm really sorry." Was all he could think to say. He couldn't help but notice how her eyes had lost their normal sparkle, replacing it with a dark sadness. He instinctively put his arms around her, hugging her tight._

_She smiled, her cheeks going pink. "Thank you." She said burying her face in his shoulder as she hugged him back._

_He pulled away, his cheeks just as red. "You're welcome." He said, opening up his book and starting to read again, embarrassed by his sudden outburst of affection. As he read, Percy found himself stealing glances her way, for only a second, before quickly turning back to his book._

_Audrey opened her scroll, and continued to work on her essay. Every once and a while she could see his eyes quickly turn to her before turning away, and every time she could do nothing but smile to herself as she thought about how right she had been, that first day they met, when she told him they were going to be great friends._

Molly was now lying on Audrey's lap, fighting to keep her eyes open as she looked between her mum and dad.

"Did you know you loved mum right then?" Lucy asked her dad.

Percy smiled. "I wish I could say that I did, but it took me much longer to realize that." He explained.

"What happened next?" Molly asked, through a yawn.

Audrey picked her up, and laid her back onto the bed, tucking her in. "That we will save for later, now it's time for bed." She said kissing her on the forehead. She looked over to see Percy give her a quick glance and a smile as he tucked Lucy in. She couldn't help but smile, she would have never admitted it back then, but even just a glance from him made her heart skip a beat, and through all the years that fact hadn't changed.

"Good night girls." Percy said, turning the room dark with just a flick of his wand.

"Night daddy." Molly yawned before closing her eyes and falling asleep.


	3. Their Father's Daughters

The next morning Audrey was startled awake as she felt someone shake her. She opened her eyes and let out a little shriek, seeing nothing but her youngest daughter's big doe eyes only inches from her face. Upon hearing her mum's shriek Molly ducked down below the bed with a shriek of her own. Audrey sighed as she looked over to see Lucy sitting at the end of the bed. She took a second to calm herself before sitting up.

"What happened next?" Lucy asked, determining that her mum was properly awake.

"Good morning to you too." Audrey said with a smile. She leaned over and smiled at Molly who was looking up nervously from under the bed. She picked Molly up and sat her down beside her on the bed.

"Morning mum. Now what happened next?" Molly asked.

Audrey sighed as she thought back to her first summer away from Hogwarts. "The summer after the school year ended Uncle Ed and I went on holiday to Scotland. I knew that I would miss your dad terribly, so I made him promise to owl me every day." She started.

"Twice a day if I could manage." Percy said as he walked in the room carrying a tray of biscuits. He set them down on the night table, and sat on the bed next to Molly, who climbed up into his lap. "By the way, I told you that you'd scare your mum trying to wake her up that way." He whispered to Molly as he gave her a little hug.

"I had never had a best friend like your dad before, and although I had a fantastic time on holiday I found out very quickly that being without your dad made me miss him very much." Audrey explained.

"I know that feeling." Lucy said with a sigh. Audrey patted her knee with a smile, knowing that first summer from Hogwarts was always the hardest.

"After Uncle Ed and I came home from Scotland, your dad and I decided we would meet at Diagon Alley to get our school supplies for the year." Audrey explained. "I couldn't even sleep the night before I was so excited." She added.

"I felt the same way." Percy confessed.

Audrey smiled, giving his hand a loving squeeze.

_Audrey stood with her Uncle Ed outside Gringotts for what seemed like an eternity to her. She paced back and forth, waiting for the Weasleys to arrive._

"_Calm down or you'll wear a hole in the pavement." Her uncle said putting his hand on her shoulder to stop her._

"_I'm just so excited." She said. She nearly squealed as she saw a mass of red-heads walking her way from the entrance of the alley. _

"_I think this is them." Ed said, smiling down at her._

_Audrey took off running and the minute she picked Percy out the bunch she grabbed him, and hugged him tightly. "I've missed you so much!" She said with an ear-to-ear smile._

_Percy hugged her back. "I have too." He said. The sound of snickering from his brothers made him pull back as he cleared his throat. "It's good to see you." He added._

"_It's great to see you." Audrey said. She looked next to Percy, seeing his mum and smiled brightly at her. "You must be Mrs. Weasley; it's fantastic to finally meet you." She said._

"_You too, dear." Molly said, before giving her husband a quick look. No doubt making a silent comment about their son's very outgoing friend._

"_I'm Percy's dad, Arthur." Her husband said holding out his hand._

_Audrey shook it enthusiastically. "I'm Audrey Darcy; it's fantastic to meet you as well." She said._

"_Audrey, calm down before you shake Mr. Weasley's hand clear off." Her uncle said, again putting his hand on her shoulder._

"_Yes, sorry." Audrey said letting Mr. Weasley's hand go._

"_You'll have to forgive her; she takes to excitement very easily." Ed explained._

"_She's charming. It's so nice to see you again, Ed." Arthur said shaking Ed's hand._

"_How have you been? She really does look quite like her mum" Molly asked, looking at him with sympathy._

"_She does, doesn't she?" Ed said, taking a moment to think about his sister. "I've been well, though. And yourselves?" he asked._

"_Very well, as you can see." Molly replied motioning to her children._

"_You're Percy's brothers, the twins, aren't you?" Audrey asked the two boys standing nearest to Percy._

"_Yes, Fred and George, at your service." One of them said._

"_How do you tell which one's which?" She asked them, looking between the two._

"_Well, I just remember that he's George." Fred started._

"_And I remember that he's Fred." George finished._

"_Yes, but how do you know? You're so alike." She asked._

"_This one's a nutter." Fred said to George, who nodded in approval._

"_My uncle says I'm not a nutter, just quizzical." She explained._

"_Nutter." The twins said to themselves._

"_Boys knock it off this instant." Molly ordered. She looked around. "Alright, Percy and Charlie you're off with me. Fred, George, Ron and Ginny you go with your dad." Molly said._

"_You have quite the handful there, Molly, are all of them at Hogwarts?" Ed asked._

"_Only the three are right now, the twins have one more year, Ron's got three years and Ginny has four, and I've got one that finished last year." Molly explained._

_Audrey walked along the road with Percy as the two chatted about the things they needed to purchase and what had happened over the summer that they hadn't written about. Percy smiled as Audrey talked a mile a minute about the happenings of her summer, down to the smallest detail. While talking to him Audrey caught his smile and grabbed his hand, giving it a friendly squeeze. Percy's heart skipped a beat for a second, and he wasn't sure why. He shook the thought from his head and continued to listen to Audrey's stories. Ed and Molly walked behind the two friends, they exchanged a smile as they watched the two, well aware of what the young kids didn't yet know._

_Once Audrey was done talking she took a deep breath and turned to Percy, "are you excited to be going back to school?" She asked as they walked into Flourish & Blotts. _

"_Yes." Percy said picking up a book and looking at it. "I feel like I haven't studied in ages." He added._

"_That's not always a bad thing." Audrey said with a smile as she picked up a book and skimmed it._

"_Maybe not for you, it isn't." Percy replied._

"_Audrey, what is the name of the potions book you're supposed to get?" Ed asked peeking into the aisle where Audrey stood._

"_I'll show you where it is." Percy offered, as he slid his book back onto the shelf._

"_Thank you." Ed said as he and Percy walked off to find the book they were looking for._

"_So you're friends with Percy." Someone said from behind Audrey._

_She spun around to come face-to-face with the twins, both looking mischievous. "Yes, he's my best friend." She said with a smile._

"_Why Percy? You couldn't find anyone else to bore you to death?" Fred asked._

_"He's not boring at all. In fact, he's very interesting. He tells me all kinds of stories, and he knows an awful lot about, well, just about everything." She explained._

_George patted his mouth as he pretended to yawn. "Boring." He said._

_Audrey shrugged. "Not everyone can be as adventurous as the two of you I suppose." She said._

_Fred's eyebrow rose. "You make it sound like you know something about us." He said._

_Audrey mirrored his eyebrow raise. "Perhaps I do." She said. She gave him an all-knowing smile before turning around and skipping off towards the direction her uncle and Percy had gone. She stopped as she heard the voice of her uncle in the aisle next to her._

_"I'm just saying to be careful with her, she's a very sensitive and trusting girl, I'd hate for her to get hurt." Ed explained._

"_Don't worry Sir, I care quite a bit for her, and I would never intentionally hurt her feelings. I'm lucky to have her as a friend." Percy replied._

"Wait a minute, you heard that conversation?" Percy asked.

"Not all of it." Audrey said.

"I didn't realize you had heard any of it." Percy said, his cheeks going a bit red.

"Don't worry dear, I thought it was sweet of my uncle to do and even sweeter for you to take it seriously." Audrey said. "You were always careful with my feelings. That was until 7th year." Audrey said.

"That wasn't intentional." Percy argued.

"I know." Audrey said.

"What happened 7th year?" Lucy asked.

"That's skipping much too far in the story, we'll come back to it." Audrey said.

_After the group had gotten everything they needed from Diagon Alley they stood near the entrance, giving the kids a few minutes to say goodbye. _

"_It's a shame you couldn't come visit before we go back to school." Audrey said._

"_It's only a couple of days, it will be ok. I will send you an owl in the morning." Percy said._

_Audrey pulled him close and gave him a hug. "I'll miss you." She said._

_He hugged her back, letting his arms linger around her. He liked hugging her, she always smelled so pretty and whenever he hugged her he could feel butterflies jump around in his stomach. "I'll miss you too." He said finally letting go._

_Ed came up and put his hand on Audrey's shoulder. "Alright, we had better get going." He said._

_Audrey nodded up at him. "Only a couple days, right?" Audrey asked Percy._

"_Right." Percy said he watched her walk away._

"Percy Weasley, you were such a sweetheart." Audrey said with a smile, as she leaned over and gave her husband a kiss.

"Ewe." Molly said squirming away from them. Her and Lucy got up, and walked to the door.

"We'll be downstairs when you two are done being gross." Lucy said grabbing a biscuit. With that she and Molly left the room, talking amongst themselves about the story and about how gross their parents were.

Audrey just smiled at Percy as the two of them watched their daughters leave in disgust. She put her head on his shoulder as he put his arm around her.

"They are so very much their father's daughters." She said with a knowing smile.


	4. A Christmas Story

Audrey swooped past Percy, who was standing next to the fireplace noisily huffing as he continued to look at his watch, as she finished grabbing the last of the family's things. As she finished her mental checklist she herded the girls towards the fireplace. They were on their way to dinner at the Burrow, and to Percy's great annoyance they were running behind. He huffed as he looked at her, expecting her to remember some last thing she'd forgotten.

"My darling Percy, love of my life." Audrey started, giving Percy a bitterly sweet smile.

"Yes?" Percy asked.

"That is in no way constructive, and if you don't stop I'm going to shove you're wand right up you're a…oh blimey, I almost forgot you're mum's cookbook!" Audrey interrupted herself as she ran off to fetch the cook book. "Alright, I think I have everything." She said, out of breath, as she skidded to a halt in front of the fireplace.

"Finally." Percy said checking his watch. "Alright everyone, you know what to do." He said as he grabbed the pot of floo powder. Without another word he stepped in, and sent himself to the Burrow.

"Alright girls, off you go, before you're dad get's his knickers in a knot so tight he can't breath." Audrey said with a laugh as she shooed Lucy in next.

After Lucy had disappeared Molly climbed in, and looked at her mum tentatively, she was always nervous about using the floo network.

"Remember, clear words." Audrey reminded with a friendly smile. She listened carefully, and was relieved to hear the words come out perfectly; she smiled and sent herself to the Burrow.

"I did it." Molly said as soon as Audrey appeared in the fireplace.

"Yes you did, I'd give you an outstanding for sure." Audrey said, patting her daughter on the head.

"Audrey, good to see you dear." Mrs. Wesley said giving Audrey a hug.

"It's wonderful to see you again Molly, the house smells fantastic, whatever you're cooking is bound to be delicious." Audrey said as she handed Molly her cookbook.

"You're too sweet, Dear, always have been." Molly said.

"You wouldn't say that if you had heard her earlier." Percy piped in from the other room.

"Love you too Darling." Audrey said rolling her eyes and smiling at Molly.

"Unruly, this one is." George said from the living room as he threw a pillow at Audrey.

"Nice to see you too, George." Audrey said, catching it and tossing it back instinctively.

Audrey squeezed past Charlie on her way into the living room. After five marriages and twelve children resulting from those marriages, the Burrow became a sea of people every time the family got together. So much so that it was impossible to have their usual weekly family dinners anywhere but out in the garden, there simply wasn't enough room at the table. Audrey made her way towards the couch only to see Percy sitting down next to Harry chatting away, no doubt about work at the ministry.

"Good to see you, Harry, don't let him chat your ear off like last time." Audrey said with a wink. She ruffled Percy's hair as she walked past to the couch where she sat down on George's lap. "I'm sure you've missed me terrible Forge." She said with a smile.

"It's been nearly unbearable." George said, pushing her off his lap onto the seat beside him.

"I can only imagine." Audrey said with a smile. "How's business?" She asked.

"Fantastic as always, how's business for you?" He asked.

"Sweet." Audrey said, laughing at her little joke.

George and Audrey saw each other all too often, their shops being right across the street from each other on Diagon Alley. Through the years they had learned to be very good friends, getting a good head start on their friendship while at Hogwarts. Audrey had always admired Fred and George's enthusiasm, and Fred and George had always admired Audrey's uniqueness.

"Mum!" Molly ran in, out of breath, being trailed by her cousins.

"Yes?" Audrey asked, seeing all the younger girls.

"I told them about your story, they want to hear what happens next." Molly said.

Audrey smiled. "Well, we can all sit together at dinner and I'll tell you about when I came here for Christmas holiday the first time." Audrey said.

Molly nodded fiercely. "Alright!" She said before grabbing her cousins and running off.

"Don't run." Audrey called after her, though she just let the end taper off, knowing it was no use.

"What story is this?" Ginny asked, setting a tray of snacks on the table in front of George.

"The girls wanted to know how Percy and I met, and so we've been telling them stories about our relationship through the years." Audrey explained as she grabbed a cake.

"They're never listened to us so intently in their entire lives." Percy added, tuning in to the conversation.

"That's brilliant, I'll have to start telling Fred and Roxy stories, maybe they'll settle for a few minutes." George said.

"After hearing any story you might have to tell, it's not likely." Ron said with a laugh, before Hermione nudged his side with her elbow.

"Be nice, Ron." She scolded.

"Don't worry Hermione, we're already aware that they're hellions, we couldn't have expected much else. Mum always said what we did as kids will come back on us two-fold from our own kids." George explained.

"I knew this was all your fault, George." Angela said with a laugh.

"I'm innocent." George said.

"When have you ever been innocent?" Charlie asked.

"That accusation hurts down to my very soul, Charlie." George said, feigning heartache.

"I'm sure." Charlie replied.

"Merlin's beard, what are you all doing crowded in here? How is there a single scrap of air left?" Arthur asked walking into the room, and seeing all eleven of them packed into the living room.

"We just haven't migrated out to the garden yet, Arthur." Audrey said standing up, and walking towards the door.

"Well go on, out with you all." Arthur said, shooing everyone out the door.

Audrey laughed as they all filed out past the kitchen and to the back garden.

"Did Gramps kick you all out too?" Lucy asked.

Audrey nodded. "Afraid so." She said. She walked over to her favorite spot in the garden and took a seat under the tall tree planted there. She had so many fond memories under this particular tree that she was always pulled to it when at the Burrow. She laid back in the grass looking up at the clouds through the tree branches.

"Nonconformist." George said as he sat in a chair near where Audrey had sat on the ground. "How can you stand her Percy?" George asked with a laugh.

"I wonder all the time." Percy said as he sat down on the grass next to his wife, who ignored their banter.

Molly and the girls ran up to where Audrey lay. "Tell us the story now then?" She asked, looking down at her mum.

"I suppose. Lucy do you want to hear more of the story?" She called over to where Lucy was sitting as she sat up.

"Yes!" Lucy yelled, grabbing James, Albus, Louis and Fred along with her.

They all sat around Audrey in a circle, and quieted down, to hear the story.

"Is it a scary story?" George asked.

"It has you in it, so it must be." Audrey replied.

"The story." Molly reminded impatiently.

Audrey laughed. "Alright, sorry."

_It was the night before Christmas, and Audrey and Percy were lying on the rug in front of the fireplace at the Burrow. Percy has pulled out his favorite Christmas book and they were reading along, and watching as the character moved around the pages. Audrey sat up and grabbed a treat off the table behind her, munched on it as she listened to Percy read the next paragraph of the story from the book. They both laughed as they watched the man on the page fall through a snow bank and disappeared._

"_Well, if it isn't Audrey Darcy; the clever, the mysterious," Fred started, walking into the living room with George right next to him._

"_The nutter, the enigma." George added._

"_The annoyed." Audrey said rolling her eyes at the twins. "What do you two want?" She asked._

"_To know what's so funny." Fred said sitting next to Audrey on the floor._

"_A Christmas story." Audrey explained, she grabbed the book and showed them the picture. "You can join us if you'd like." She offered, though she could see Percy shaking his head and motioning "no" out of the corner of her eye._

"_From the subtle nonverbal clues our favorite brother is trying to convey, I don't believe he want us to hang around. Why not Percy, are you planning a kiss?" Fred asked, putting emphasis on the word kiss._

_Percy's cheeks went as red as his hair. "No, no of course not!" He sputtered._

"Ewe, does he kiss you?" James asked, scrunching his nose as he interrupted Audrey.

"No, don't worry, there won't be any kissing for many years." Audrey promised.

"Lame!" George asked.

"Can I go on now?" Audrey asked, turning her head to George.

"By all means. I like this one, I'm in it." He said.

"Shh!" Molly scolded him.

George mimed locking his mouth shut, then pointed to Audrey to signal her to start again.

"Thank you." Audrey said, shaking her head.

_Audrey's cheeks went as red as Percy's as she looked at the twins. "Percy and I are friends." She said matter-of-factly._

"_We assumed." George said._

"_Well, then you should know friends don't kiss." Audrey said, saying kiss quieter then the rest of the words._

_Fred and George laughed. "I think we've caught them, George." Fred said._

_Audrey's embarrassment quickly turned to annoyance. "Fred Weasley you haven't caught anything." She said standing up, and crossing her arms, glaring at him._

_Percy jumped up to get in between the twins and Audrey. "Don't worry Audrey, they're just being rude. We'll finish the story upstairs." Percy said grabbing Audrey's arm and turning her away from Fred._

"_Four galleons says he kisses her." George said to Fred._

"_You're on!" Audrey said over her shoulder before Percy pulled her off. They continued up the stairs to his room. He quietly shut the door behind him._

"_Those two will make you go mad if you let them get to you." Percy said._

_Audrey shook her head. "I've never dealt with siblings, they're annoying." She said with a sigh as she sat down on Percy's bed._

_He laughed. "Yes, they are. That's alright. We still have the rest of the book." He said sitting next to her. He opened the book up to the next page, and continued reading. _

_As it got later and the weather got chillier the two huddled together under the blanket, keeping warm, as they giggled at the story for hours. They often got side-tracked with stories of past Christmases, or just something funny they hadn't remembered to tell each other before. After a very funny story about a lawn gnome accidentally getting stuck in the tree Percy reached down to turn the page of the book at the same time as Audrey grabbed it to turn. His hand grabbed hers, and the two froze, hands still touching. They both looked down at their hands, unable to move. Audrey turned to look at Percy slowly, and opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by someone clearing their throat in the doorway. They both jumped as they quickly pulled their hands away, and looked over to see Mrs. Wealsey standing there._

"_It's time for bed dears." She said with a smile._

_Audrey jumped up with a nod, her cheeks bright red. "It is getting late, isn't it?" She mumbled quickly. She stopped at the door and turned back to Percy. She stood there for a second deciding what to say. "Goodnight Percy." She said with a shy smile._

"_Goodnight." Percy said, smiling back._

"_Goodnight, Mrs. Weasley." Audrey added. She gave one last look at Percy and gave a quiet squeak before running off to Ginny's room where she was staying._

_Mrs. Weasley watched her run off before turning back to Percy. She gave a very sweet and knowing smile to her son. "Goodnight Percy." She said before shutting the door behind her, leaving Percy alone in his room. He laid down and pulled his blanket up, drifting off to sleep as his mind wandered towards thoughts of Audrey._

_As soon as she reached Ginny's room Audrey immediately jumped into bed, ignoring the questioning looks from Ginny. She pulled the blanket on and let out a silent sigh. She had the most odd feeling and she didn't really know what to make of it. She tried to shake the thoughts as best she could as she fell asleep, though she couldn't stop herself from dreaming of him. _

_The sun had hardly risen the next morning as Audrey was shaken out of her sleep by Ginny who was nudging her, trying to wake her up._

"_It was worth the four galleons." She mumbled the last reminisce of her dreams fading away._

"_What was?" Ginny asked, still nudging._

"_Huh?" Audrey asked, wiping her eyes as she sat up._

"_You said 'it was worth the four galleons.'" Ginny explained._

"_Oh, not sure, I must have been dreaming." Audrey said, her cheeks going pink._

_Ginny didn't pay anymore thought to it as she remembered the reason she was waking Audrey up. "It's Christmas! You're uncle's downstairs." She said excitedly. _

_Audrey jumped up out of bed so fast it caused Ginny to jump back, shocked. Audrey grabbed her robe off the hook near her bed, and threw it on. She grabbed Ginny's hand and pulled her towards the door._

_"Come on!" Audrey said excitedly._

_Ginny giggled as she ran along behind Audrey down the stairs._

"_Slow down." Audrey heard her uncle say from the bottom of the stairs. She hit the bottom step and jumped at her uncle giving him a hug._

_"I've missed you!" She said beaming._

_He hugged her tightly. "I've missed you too. I hope you've been well behaved for Mr. and Mrs. Weasley." He said._

_Audrey nodded. "On my best behavior." She said._

"_Good." He said messing up her hair._

"_I've brought you a gift." He said._

"_You didn't have to." She said, meaning it._

_Ed chuckled as he shook his head. "You're the only kid I've ever met that doesn't expect a gift for Christmas." He said._

_Audrey shrugged. "What could I possibly need?" She asked._

"_You don't need it, but I think you'll enjoy it." He said pointing at the box on the table behind him._

"_Can I open it now?" She asked._

"_Yes." He said._

_She ran over to the box and opened it up to find a picture of her mum and dad in their shop when it had first opened. They were sitting on the counter, her dad's arm draped over her mum's shoulder, all smiles, laughing and waving at the camera. She pulled it out, holding it still so she could watch them smile and wave happily._

_She turned to her uncle. "It's the best gift ever." She said holding it close to her._

"_There's more." He said._

_She gave him a confused look before turning back to the box, she noticed a single sheet of paper sitting at the bottom. She pulled it out and inspected the wording on it. She shook her head. "I don't get it." She said._

_He smiled and pointed at a few words. "These words mean that you own this shop, I bought it for you so after school you can open it back up, only if you want." He explained._

_Audrey couldn't even speak; she grabbed her uncle and hugged him as tight as she could. She didn't care if she was getting him wet from her tears, she didn't ever want to let him go._

"_Did I do a good job?" he asked._

"_The best ever." She said through her tears._

"_No tears, your mum and dad would have wanted you to have it." He explained, wiping the tears off her face._

"_Audrey what's wrong, why are you crying?" Percy asked from where he stood at the bottom of the stairs, his voice full of concern._

_Audrey turned to him and smiled. "They're happy tears. Uncle Ed bought mum and dad's shop for me." She explained, holding up the paper for him to see. _

_Percy read through it with a smile on his face. "It's brilliant." He said as he finished reading._

_Audrey nodded, agreeing with him. She turned back to her uncle. "Your gift is in my bag. So is your Percy." She said running back up the stairs before either could respond. She ran back down with two packages and handed them to their recipients._

_Ed opened his to find a new bowler, black with crimson trim._

"_It matches your favorite robes." She explained._

"_It's fantastic." He said putting it on with a smile as he kissed her cheek._

_Percy had opened his already, and was looking at the book in his hand. "How'd you know I wanted this?" he asked looking at her with a confused expression._

_She smiled. "I saw you looking at it when we went to Flourish and Blotts. Every time we walked by it you kept picking it up, I assumed you wanted it." She explained._

_"Thank you." Percy said hugging her._

"_I don't have much to give to you." He said, a bit embarrassed as he handed her a small package._

_Audrey grabbed it, and opened it. She looked down at a photo frame with the two of them hugging and waving at the camera on the platform before leaving on the train earlier in the year. "It's fantastic." She said pulling it out._

"_You really like it?" He asked._

"I loved it." Audrey explained. "I still have it on the shelf at the shop." She said.

"You reminded me, you owe me four galleons." George said.

"He didn't kiss me that night." Audrey argued.

"Not once did I specify when he would kiss you." George corrected her.

Audrey rolled her eyes as she dug into her pocket and pulled out four galleons, and handed them over to George.

"Thank you, ma'am." He said pocketing the money.

"Time for dinner everyone." Mrs. Weasley said coming outside floating the dinner behind her, and over to the table.

Percy stood up, and helped Audrey up, and the two were about to walk over to the table when Lucy came over and hugged her dad. He smiled down at her.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"Being sweet." She said before she ran off to catch up to the other kids.

Percy ruffled her hair as she ran off. He turned to walk back to the table as Audrey grabbed his hand and stopped him. She pulled him close and gave him a deep kiss. She pulled away as the kiss ended and leaned her head on his chest, not taking her arms from around him.

He looked at her even more confused. "Not that I'm complaining, but what did I do to deserve that?" he asked.

"Because you're sweet, of course." She said with a smile. She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the table.


	5. Get a Room & Pass the Pies

"What was it that had you all so entertained back there?" Mrs. Weasley asked as the family filled up their plates with food.

"Pass the rolls!" James yelled to Lucy who was further down the table. She grabbed a roll out of the basket and chucked it to him.

"Lucy!" Percy scolded, shocked at what he had just seen his daughter do.

"Sorry, he wanted a roll." Lucy shrugged.

"And you say they take after me." Percy said to Audrey and he shook his head.

Audrey laughed, and turned to Mrs. Wesley. "Percy and I have been telling the girls our story; they wanted to hear the next part so everyone sat around to hear about the first holiday I spent here." She explained.

"I still remember seeing you two cuddled up together on Percy's bed. You were both so precious together, I knew right then you were going to get married." Mrs. Weasley said putting her hand on Audrey's.

"They you knew long before either of us realized it." Percy said.

"Not everyone can be as slow to pick up on it as you were." Audrey said.

"It was a mistake! I didn't realize." Percy said. "Are you ever going to let me live that down?" he asked.

"I'm sure." Audrey said with a smile. "One day."

He just shook his head, knowing there was no use in even trying to defend himself, he'd been fighting that battle since the end of 7th year and still hadn't made a bit of headway.

"When did Uncle Ron start school?" Molly asked her mouth full of food.

"Chew first, and then ask questions." Audrey reminded.

"Sorry." Molly said, her mouth still full of food.

"Your Uncle started your mum and my sixth year." Percy explained.

"What happened when he started?" Molly asked.

Percy opened his mouth, getting ready to answer her, but he was interrupted.

"Your dad could tell you, but then you'll skip a story that not even your dad knows." Audrey said.

George turned to her from the other end of the table. "You never told him about that?"

"Never told me about what? What happened that I didn't know about?" Percy asked.

"Oh let me tell this one!" George said.

"Alright." Audrey said. She could tell that Percy was upset by the fact that she had kept something from him. "It isn't a big deal, I promise." She whispered to him.

"Then why haven't I heard about it?" He asked in a loud whisper.

"It wasn't one of my finest moments, and I just knew you'd lecture me." She whispered back.

"Hey, keep it down over there; I'm trying to tell a story." George said.

"Sorry." Audrey said.

_Audrey sat on one of the chairs in the Gryffindor common room finishing the second draft of her defense against the dark arts essay, an essay she would have been done with hours ago had Percy not instilled in her the habit of creating two drafts. Percy had gone off to bed early so he could make sure to be well rested for an exam they had the next morning. After finishing the last paragraph Audrey rolled up the essay and put it in her bag. She leaned back in the chair with a sigh, wishing she had something to do._

"_Why so glum?" Fred said from one side of her chair._

"_Missing the love of your life?" George asked from the other._

"_Clearly." Audrey said rolling her eyes._

_The twins looked around the room, making sure no one was in hearing distance._

"_We're going on a mission. Care to join us?" Fred whispered._

"_What sort of mission?" Audrey asked._

"_Shh." The twins both whispered._

"_Sorry, what sort of mission?" Audrey whispered._

"_The really secretive kind and we need a look-out, are you in or not?" George asked._

"_In, I guess." Audrey said._

"_Alright, let's go then." Fred said pulling Audrey off the chair._

_She followed close behind the twins as the three slipped out the door of the common room into the hallway. Fred and George looked to make sure the coast was clear before quietly walking off down the hallway. Audrey followed behind them as quietly as she could._

"_We'll be in trouble if we get caught in the halls this late." She whispered to George as the three stopped so they could make sure the coast was clear around a corner._

"_That'll be the least of our worries." George replied with a wink._

_  
Finally after sneaking through half of the school they ended up hidden behind a statue just outside of Filch's office._

"_What are we doing here?" Audrey asked._

"_He took something from us, we need it back." Fred explained._

"_Now follow our lead, and be very quiet please, we don't want to get caught." George said. Audrey just nodded._

_George pulled out his wand and with a flick suddenly a loud noise was echoing through the hall near them. Filch was out of his office in a flash. _

"_What's the racket?" He said looking around. He realized it was coming from further away so he hurried off towards the direction it was coming from._

_Fred and George ran off towards the office, and Audrey followed along quickly, not wanting to be left behind. Once they got into the office they rummaged around drawers trying to find where Filch kept the confiscated items._

_  
"Keep your ears open, when that noise goes away we've got to get out of here." Fred said to Audrey, who nodded as she continued to look._

"_I think I found it." Audrey whispered as she pulled out a few items, trying to see what they were. _

"_That's it." Fred said grabbing mysterious object they had lost earlier that day._

"_What else is in here?" George asked as he looked through the drawer._

"_What do you think this is in here for?" Audrey asked looking at map. There didn't seem to be anything distinctively different about it, it just looked like a regular Hogwarts map._

"_It says that it's a Marauder's map, wonder what it does." Fred asked snatching the map from Audrey's hands._

"_Hey, I wasn't done looking at that." She said._

"_Sure you were. What do you think it does, George?" Fred asked._

"_Something good if Filch took it, bring it along too." George said still looking through the drawer._

_Audrey signaled for them to quiet as she listened. She heard nothing but silence in the halls._

"_It's time to go." She whispered. _

_They were about to leave when they heard footsteps down walking down the hall. They looked at each other, wondering what to do. Audrey pointed to a closet near them so they all quietly piled in._

"_This was a bad idea, what are we supposed to do, stay here all night?" George whispered._

"_He has to sleep sometime." Audrey whispered back "Owe, you're on my foot." She said nudging one of the twins away._

"_Shh." Fred whispered as the sound of the footsteps came closer. Filch was back in his office._

_The three stood silently waiting for any sound of Filch leaving or falling asleep. Audrey rested her head on Fred's shoulder after what seemed like an eternity. She was starting to get tired. Finally after an hour they heard the sounds of snoring coming from the other side of the door. They looked at each other skeptically. Fred nudged George who opened the door just a bit so he could see out. He turned back and nodded. They opened the door and quickly ran out of the office. They reached the hallway and took off running towards the dormitory. They made it without any other snags, and they all piled through the door finding themselves alone in the common room. Audrey fell over onto the couch out of breath from all the running. The twins sat on either side of her, catching their breaths. _

"_I'm never letting you guys talk me into going with you every again." Audrey said._

_  
The three looked at each other and bust out laughing, all thinking about the situation they had just gotten themselves into._

"_I can't believe I was locked in a closet with you two for an hour." She said wiping the tears away as she laughed._

"_It could have been worse, you could have been stuck in a closet with Percy, he'd have snogged you." George said._

"_Oh shut up, he wouldn't have." Audrey said._

"_You have so much to learn about the ways of life, young one." George said patting her head._

"_You're a twit. I'm going to bed before you two try and get me into more trouble." Audrey said standing up. She said her final goodbyes and walked up to the girls bedrooms._

"You broke into Filch's office and ended up stuck in a closet with my brothers for an hour?" Percy asked shocked.

"Yea, well, yea." Audrey said looking at him nervously.

"In a closet, for an hour?" Percy repeated the last bit of his question.

"See this is why I didn't tell you." Audrey said with a sigh.

"What's past is past, I suppose." He said with a sigh. "But I'm officially of the hook for seventh year."

Audrey made a pouting face for a minute before laughing. "Alright, I suppose that's fair." She said.

Percy looked shocked. "Really?" He asked.

She nodded. "Really."

"I love you!" He said pulling her in for a kiss. They parted as the table threw rolls at them.

"Get a room!" Ron said chucking one last roll which flew across the table, hitting Percy square in the forehead. "And pass the pies."


	6. Right Hand Red

"Dad, will you tell us about when you became prefect?" Lucy asked looking up from where she lay in front of the fireplace reading her favorite book about Hogwarts.

Percy's face beamed as he looked at Audrey, wondering if she had told the kids to ask. Audrey shook her head, and gave him a smile. She knew how much it meant to him that Lucy was interested in one of his first important achievements. She could practically see the wheels set in motion in his head as he, no doubt, plotted Lucy's eventual rise to Prefect, many years from now.

"You really want to hear?" Percy asked.

Molly sat up in her mum's lap, and turned to her dad. "Yea! Tell us." She said excitedly.

"Well alright." Percy said.

_Percy sat waiting in his room looking for any sign of an incoming owl. Not only should be getting a response from Audrey, but Hogwarts letters should be arriving any time now, and he was anxiously awaiting the letter that would tell him whether or not he had made prefect._

"_Percy, what are you doing in there? It's nearly noon." Mrs. Weasley said knocking on Percy's door._

"_I'm studying." Percy called back. Studying had been his original plan, and the open book in front of him could vouch for that, but he couldn't take his eyes off the horizon long enough to be bothered with the book._

"_Come down and get some lunch, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, opening his door._

"_Alright." Percy reluctantly agreed._

"_Besides, you have a visitor here." She added with a smile._

"_What?" Percy asked confused, he hadn't been expecting anyone._

"_Audrey's here." Mrs. Weasley explained._

_Percy's face lit up as he flew down the stairs to meet her. "Audrey!" he called looking around for her. He opened the kitchen door only to slam it in her face._

_Audrey fell back onto a bench at the kitchen table holding her nose in her hand. She looked down only to see blood all over her hands._

"_Oh dear." She said, fighting to keep her eyes in focus. "I don't do well with blood." She added before fainting._

"_Audrey!" Percy said shocked, not quite processing what had just happened._

"_Percy what happened?" Mrs. Wesley asked walking into the room. She ran over to where Audrey lay, and knelt down next to her._

"_I must have hit her with the door. She said she doesn't do well with blood." Percy explained._

_Mrs. Weasley pulled out her wand and said a few things. Suddenly Audrey's nose stopped bleeding, and the blood that had come from it was gone. She sat up groggily._

"_What happened?" She asked._

"_I'm sorry, I hit you with the door, and you fainted." Percy explained._

"_Embarrassing." Audrey said with a laugh as she started to pick herself up._

_Percy held his hand out, and when she took it he pulled her up the rest of the way. "I'm really sorry." He said._

"_No worries." Audrey said giving him a hug._

"_So what are you doing here?" Percy asked. He watched as she pulled out her Hogwarts letter._

"_It's letter day. They're quite important; I wanted to open them together." She explained._

"_That would be brilliant, only I haven't gotten mine yet." Percy explained._

_Suddenly they heard a large thud, fallowed by a much more muffled thud. They all looked over to the window, where the sound had originated. _

"_My word that bird is daft." Mrs. Weasley said to herself as opened the window. She reached out and pulled a stunned Errol into the kitchen. "One day you'll learn not to run into the windows." She said to the owl who simply hooted a reply._

"_Here you are, dear." Mrs. Weasley said handing Percy his letter._

_Percy held it close, just staring at it for a second._

"_Are we going to stare at them or shall we open them?" Audrey asked with a smile._

"_Open them." Percy said turning his over._

"_Good luck Percy." Audrey said, knowing how much being prefect would mean to him._

"_You too." Percy replied._

"_The two opened their envelopes at the same time, and pulled out their letters. They quietly read to themselves, until Percy read the words he had been waiting to see._

"_I made prefect!" He said excitedly._

"_That's great." Mrs. Weasley said, proudly hugging her son._

"_How about you Audrey, you made prefect too, right?" Percy said._

_Audrey held back her tears as she finished the letter, no where did it mention her being a prefect. She closed her eyes and sucked up her sadness for only a second before smiling wide. "Congratulations Percy." She said hugging him._

_He hugged her back tightly. "We're going to be prefects together, this will be great." He said._

_Audrey shook her head. "Not exactly, I didn't make prefect." She said._

"_What? How can that be?" Percy asked grabbing her letter._

"_It's alright though; it won't be any different then before." Audrey said._

_Percy nodded. "No different." He repeated._

"Mum that's sad." Molly said hugging her mom.

Audrey just smiled. "No, I wasn't very sad, I was too happy for your dad. It's a really big honor to be made prefect." Audrey said.

"As a prefect I got to take charge of showing the first years around, and keeping order in the halls and the common room." Percy explained.

As he continued to explain about the duties he had while he was a prefect, Audrey couldn't help, but think back to the ride on the express that year.

_Audrey picked the first empty car she could find, and sulked down into the seat._

'_I can't ride with you today; I've got to sit in the prefect's car.' She thought about Percy's words, as she looked out onto the platform. She waved at her Uncle who mirrored her sad expression. He was always sad to see her go away for so long. As the train sped off Audrey looked away from the window, and down to her book. Her uncle had sent it with her, knowing she would have more time alone this year, due to Percy being busy with his prefects duties. She stared at the pages, not reading the words for a long time before she was interrupted by the door opening._

"_Why so glum?" Fred said sitting to her right._

"_It's not a good look for you." George added, plopping down to her left._

"_Percy can't sit here, he has to sit with the prefects." Audrey explained._

_  
"You can't be glum about not being a prefect." George said._

"_You're much to fun to be a prefect, only prats make prefect." Fred added._

_Audrey smiled. "Thanks guys." She said._

"_No worries, what would you do with out us?" Fred asked putting his arm around her shoulder._

"_Read quietly, staying out of any trouble." She predicted._

"_Exactly, who'd want any part in that?" George asked._

"_Someone who knows better then you or me." Audrey said with a smile._

_Fred shook his head. "Haven't you ever heard that ignorance is bliss? Why do you think George and I are the happiest pair around?" He said with a laugh._

_As the hours went by Audrey and the twins laughed and played around, keeping themselves entertained as the train headed towards Hogwarts._

"_What on earth are you doing?" Percy asked standing at the door, a confused look on his face. He tilted his head to get a better look at the three. The were piled up together on some sort of sheet with colored squares, Percy had never seen such a thing before._

"_It's a game my muggle Gran sent me; apparently it's popular with them. They call it Twister." Audrey said reading off the box._

"_It's primitive, yet surprisingly fun." George said._

"_What's the point of it?" Percy asked, not finding their explanations helpful at all._

"_It's about balance. You spin and it tells you a color and a body part and you are supposed to find a way to get that body part on that color without falling." Audrey explained._

"What's the point in it?" Percy said.

_Audrey smiled. "It's just a muggle game Percy, they're much less complicated then wizarding games." Audrey explained._

"_Though just as fun." Fred said moving his right hand to red._

_Percy just shrugged. "Alright then, I came to tell you we're nearing Hogwarts, you should probably change into your robes." He explained._

"_Oh thanks." Audrey said moving to stand up, but instead losing her balance and toppling over, taking Fred and George with her. She stood up, brushing herself off. "Should I save you a spot at the table?" She asked Percy._

"_Yes. I should be able to sit with you." Percy replied, looking even more confused at the three._

"_Great." Audrey said with a big smile. She had so much to talk to him about._

"_Don't forget to change into your robes." Percy reminded._

_  
"Robes, right." Audrey said._

"You look like you've been confounded. Are you still in there?" Percy asked.

Audrey smiled at Percy. "Of course, why?" She asked.

"I put the kids to bed a few minutes ago; you've sort of been in your own world for a while. What are you doing?" He asked.

"Just thinking." Audrey explained.

"About what?" Percy asked sitting next to her.

"Fifth year." Audrey said.

"That was a good year." Percy said.

Audrey nodded. "It was." She replied, though she was sure she enjoyed fifth year for a much different reason then Percy did.

"You spent your fifth year getting into trouble with my brothers." Percy said, rolling his eyes.

Audrey smiled as she stood up. "And imagine, I got caught only about half the time." She said with a wink. "I suppose the girl's will want to be tucked in." She added.

"I suppose so," Percy said grabbing her hand as they walked up the stairs. "Troublemaker." He added with a smile.


	7. The First Fight

*~* Sorry, before you get into the chapter, I wanted to appologize for taking so long to post this one. I've had internet trouble and wasn't able to get on. I also want to thank everyone sooo much for the reviews. They are all greatly appreciated, and you guys are just awesome! Thanks so much! *~*

* * *

Molly and Lucy sat in their pajamas together talking in hushed voices as Percy and Audrey walked in the room. They stood quietly at the door watching the two girls for a minute. Molly spotted them, and nudged Lucy who quickly stopped talking and turned to them.

"What's this then?" Audrey asked as she sat down on Molly's bed.

"Tell us about when you two got in your first fight, won't you please mum?" Molly asked.

"Where'd that idea come from?" Percy asked, looking up shocked.

"Uncle George." Audrey said along with the girls.

"How'd she know?" Molly asked to Lucy.

"I told you she'd know! Now we have to pay him a sickle each." Lucy said.

"You're uncle bet you that I wouldn't know?" Audrey asked. When the two nodded she shook her head. "You don't have to pay your uncle anything, that was bum odds." She said.

"What?" Molly asked, looking at her mum confused.

"It means that he knew that mum would know. He cheated." Percy explained.

"That cheater!" Lucy said, shocked.

Audrey just shook her head; she'd be having a conversation with Uncle George in the morning when she got to work. "I suppose I could, but it seems so much like a bed time story, and I don't see anyone here that looks ready for bed." Audrey said. She turned to Percy who was sitting next to Lucy's bed. "Don't you think so?" She asked.

"I'd have to agree," Percy said as he wiped off the lens of his glass on his shirt. "Which is a shame because I kind of want to hear this one." He said putting his glasses back on.

The girls looked at each other quickly before Lucy gave Molly a push towards her bed. Molly scrambled over to her bed and jumped in under her blankets in one swift motion.

"You guys are really good at that." Lucy said as she pulled her blankets up around her.

Audrey smiled. "I know, it's brilliant, isn't it? We can't take all the credit though; we learned it from the manual that came with you." She said, her smile getting even bigger.

"Babies come with manuals?" Molly asked. The look on her face made it appear as if she couldn't decide whether to be more excited or shocked, which only served to make Audrey start to laugh.

"No silly, I'm only joking. Your dad sure wishes you did though." She said, ruffling up Molly's hair.

"Don't I ever." Percy said with a sigh.

"Shh dad, Mum's gonna start the story now." Molly said holding her finger to her mouth.

"Oh, sorry." Percy said in a whisper that was quickly shushed away by Molly.

Audrey smiled, and though back to where she ought to begin.

_Percy sat quietly in the common room pretending to read a book when really we was impatiently waiting for Audrey to get back from watching quidditch practice. He turned to the door quickly as he heard the sound of laughter. Audrey was holding her side, and roaring with laughter as she walked into the common room accompanied by Fred and George. The two followed her over to wear Percy was sitting._

"_What's so funny?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrow in curiosity._

_Audrey slumped into the chair beside him. "Fred accidentally hit George in the head with his bat." She said though her laughter._

"_Accidently my…"_

"Language!" Percy interrupted.

"I wasn't actually going to say it." Audrey said, making a bit of a guilty look. "Anyway."

"_I've got to talk to you." Percy said quickly._

"_Oh. Alright" Audrey said, calming her laughing down as she saw the look on Percy's face. "What is it?" She asked._

_Percy looked up at the twins._

"_Alright, alright, we know when we're not welcome." Fred said, nudging George. "We've got better things to do then listen to a prefect emergency anyway." He added before the two walked off._

"_What's wrong?" Audrey asked, pulling her chair closer to Percy so their conversation could be private._

_  
"Nothing's wrong, everything is very right." Percy said with a smile._

_  
"Oh?" Audrey asked, confused._

"_All of the prefects have decided to get together and throw a new term party, they're allowing up a classroom, and we can invite anyone we want." Percy explained._

_Audrey's face lit up, she'd never been to a party before. "That's brilliant!" She said._

"_You'll come right?" Percy asked._

"_Wouldn't miss it!" Audrey said with a huge smile._

_The rest of the night before bed Percy explained all the details of the party and his role in planning it. They chatted excitedly about what they might wear, and they both relished in their excitement._

_That Saturday Audrey could hardly contain her excitement as she sat with Percy, reading through their next lessons. She barely paid attention to the words as her mind constantly wondered to the party that would be happening that night._

_  
Alicia, one of their classmates walked up with a smile. "Audrey, want to come get ready with me?" She asked._

_Audrey stood up. "Love to." She said. She turned back to Percy. "Meet you in the hall in an hour?" She asked. Percy just nodded, hardly looking up from his book._

_Audrey walked off with Alicia to their room and both girls chatted excitedly as they got ready. Audrey had set out her favorite dress and the necklace her uncle had sent her when she owled him about the party. _

"_So are you going with Percy?" Alicia asked._

_She looked away as her cheeks went pink. She couldn't explain it, but recently she'd been felling strange whenever she was around Percy. When he smiled at her, she'd forget to breath, and when he hugged her she felt like her heart would beat right out of her chest. In fact, just the though of him made butterflies fly around in her stomach. "Well, we're best friends, we do everything together." She explained, shaking the thoughts from her mind. The idea that she might fancy Percy made her sick to her stomach; she hadn't planned for anything like that._

_Audrey tucked one last strand of her hair into the bobby pin, and turned to Alicia nervously. "Do I look aright?" She asked._

"_You look great, Percy is lucky to get to go with you." she said._

_Audrey just looked down embarrassed as she thanked her._

"_Ready to go?" Alicia asked._

_Audrey nodded and the two walked down together. They separated with a wave as Audrey walked over to meet up with Percy who was looking quite nice in his dress robes, she noticed._

_  
"You look nice." She said fighting to keep her cheeks from turning pink as butterflies flew around her stomach._

_  
"Do you really think so because I've got to go pick up Penny in a few minutes, and I'm pretty nervous." Percy said looking around._

_  
"Penny?" Audrey asked. She took a breath as the butterflies starting to feel more like rocks tumbling around._

_Percy's face lit up. "Yea, Penny Clearwater, I asked her to go with me." he explained._

"_Of course." Audrey said, feeling as if she might be sick._

"_Audrey, she's amazing, you can't even imagine. She's so pretty, and the smartest girl I know." Percy said with a happy sigh._

_Audrey could feel her heart drop as she fought to hold back the tears. "For someone so smart you're a real idiot, Percy Weasley." Audrey said before turning around and running down the hall._

_She didn't stop running till she made it to the top of the astronomy tower where she slid down the wall, finally letting the tears fall as she sat on the ground. She couldn't believe she'd been so stupid, believing that Percy would be going with her. She looked down seeing her dress which only made her cry harder. She wiped her eyes quickly as she heard steps near by. She couldn't stop her tears so she pulled her knees up to her chest, and hid her face behind them._

_  
"I'm fine." She said addressing the unidentified stranger._

"_Clearly." A familiar voice said sitting next to her._

_She looked up, tears streaming down her face to see Fred. "What are you doing here?" She asked._

"_You ran past me. I followed you up here." He explained. "What's wrong?" He asked._

"_You're brother's a git." She said before she broke into sobs again._

"_Well I could have told you that." Fred said trying to make a joke. He put his hand on Audrey's and sat quietly for a second. "What did he do?" He asked._

"_He's not the git I am, I was stupid enough to think, I don't know what I thought, but I look like an idiot in this thing, and it's all because I thought it might impress him." She said._

"_You don't look like an idiot. You look pretty." Fred said quietly._

_She looked up, wiping away her tears. "That' nice, but you don't have to lie." She said._

_  
Fred smiled. "I never tell a lie."_

_Audrey couldn't help, but laugh at that. "Sure." She said._

"_Why don't you let George and I take you to the party? No reason to let a nice dress go to waste." Fred suggested._

"_I look like a mess." Audrey said._

"_Not hardly." Fred said with a wink. He stood up, and held his hand out. "Come on, George and I will change quicker then you can say blast-ended skrewt and then we'll go and have a good time." He said._

_She took his hand and stood up. "Thank you." She said._

_The two walked back to the common room where Fred grabbed George and the two changed quickly._

"Alright, are you ready to go with the two finest dates in all of Hogwarts?" George asked.

"_Yes, where are they?" Audrey asked looking around._

"_Look who's the comedian." George said rolling his eyes._

_The two boys linked arms with Audrey as they walked into the party. Audrey couldn't help, but laugh as George made jokes about having to share a date, and as Fred consistently responded that it wasn't his fault George couldn't find his own date._

"_Come on, a dance will cheer you up." Fred said as he pulled Audrey off towards where everyone was dancing._

"_I can't dance." Audrey said trying to pull away._

_Fred grabbed her arm and pulled her in close. "Don't worry, it isn't difficult." He said._

"_Audrey, there you are." Percy said walking up to them. "What's wrong with you?" he asked._

_Audrey spun towards him. "What's wrong with me? You are! If you know what's good for you, you will not speak to me ever again Percy Ignatius Weasley!" She said turning back to Fred. "Come on, let's go." She said._

_Fred just shrugged at his brother as Audrey pulled him off, leaving Percy standing alone, confused at what had just transpired._

_  
"You can't mean for him never to talk to him again." Fred said as he handed Audrey a glass of punch._

"_For the time being that's what I mean." She said. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. "I don't want to think about it. Let's just have fun." She suggested._

_Fred nodded. "Good idea." He said._

_After many hours later, the two walked into the common room, exhausted by the night's events. Audrey was about to go up to bed when she turned back around._

_  
"Fred." She said, getting his attention._

_He turned around. "Yea?" he asked._

_She walked up to him and pulled him in for a hug, and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you." She said._

_He smiled back at her. "Anytime." He said._

Lucy looked at her mother shocked. "Mum!" She scolded. "You're supposed to love dad not Uncle Fred." She said.

Audrey smiled, unsure of what to say, luckily Percy jumped in.

"Sometimes I'm not the smartest when it comes to your mum's feelings. Uncle Fred made her feel better, there's nothing wrong with that." Percy explained as he got up and sat next to Audrey. "Besides, we ended up together, didn't we?"

"Yea." Molly said with a yawn. Percy stood up, and tucked her in as Audrey got up and tucked Lucy in.

"Don't worry, I'll never anyone quite like I love your dad." She whispered as she tucked Lucy in.

"Promise?" Lucy asked, looking up at her mum, still obviously bothered by the story.

"Promise." Audrey said.


	8. Their Separate Suffering

_Audrey sat in the corner of the common room, looking lazily at a book. The twins had gone off to cause some trouble, no doubt, and she took solace in hiding behind her book where no one would bother her. She happened to look up, just as Percy was walking in the common room, his eyes looked around until they locked on to hers. She looked away quickly after seeing the sadness that filled his eyes at the sight of her. It broke her heart to be the cause of his pain, but she was still too hurt to be rational or reasonable. She pulled her book up to cover her face, she knew no one would notice the tears that had begun to fall, but she didn't want to risk it, knowing there was a chance he would be watching. _

"_Tears aren't allowed." Fred said sitting in front of her pulling her book down so she could look at him._

"_Tears? I don't know what you're talking about." She said turning away for a second to wipe her cheeks._

"_You're a terrible liar, Audrey, you shouldn't even attempt it." Fred said._

"_You caught me, I'm a sucker for a sappy book." Audrey said._

"_I cry every time I read, __Quidditch Through the Ages__ as well." Fred said with a knowing smile._

"_I miss him, alright?" Audrey said in a whisper. "I just hate this." She added._

_Fred grabbed her hand. "Then just go say something to him." He said._

_She shook her head. "I'm not ready to do that yet." She said simply._

"No tears." Percy said sitting next to Audrey on the couch. He reached his hand up, and wiped away the tears. "What are these for?" He asked.

"I miss him." She said simply as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"I know, we all do." Percy said, putting his arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. "It means a lot to the girls to hear this, even if they don't realize how much it may hurt you." he said.

Audrey shook her head. "I want them to know Fred like I knew him. He deserved to be in their lives, even if it can only be through stories." She explained.

"You're very right." Percy said kissing her forehead. "I'm sure we'll be woken up first thing tomorrow to hear about the rest of the fight." He said with a yawn.

"It's your turn to tell the next part. You should have your side represented as well." She said.

"So I should tell them that I was a git and couldn't see what was right under my nose?" He asked.

"That's not what I was thinking, the truth, but not what I was thinking." Audrey said with a smile.

"What were you thinking then?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrow in curiosity.

"I was thinking you should tell them that about Penny like I told them about Fred." Audrey suggested.

"I could do that." Percy said standing up. "Every good trip takes a detour I suppose." He said grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. He pulled her close and swayed back and forth, dancing with her to the music in his head.

"Ours took a couple." She said with a sigh, dancing along.

"But they brought us here, so I'm ok with that." He smiled.

"You're a hopeless romantic, Percy Weasley." She said as he twirled her out, and spun her back in.

Percy dipped her down and pulled her back up, kissing her softly. "You bring it out of me." He said.

Audrey laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, taking in every moment as if time was standing still. "I love you." She whispered, not opening her eyes.

"I love you too." He replied.

The next morning woke up feeling déjà vu as she was being poked in the arm. "Good morning girls." She groaned into her pillow.

"Dad's poking not us." Molly said.

Audrey looked over to see Percy's face grinning back at her. She shook her head. "Of course he is." She said rolling her eyes. She sat up and stretched as the girls looked at her and Percy expectantly. "Don't look at me; the next part of the story is all your dad's." She said.

"Dad, tell us what happened." Lucy said.

_Percy walked over to where Audrey sat looking nervous and obviously upset. He sat down next to her, fiddling with his robe. He sat thinking about what he would say for a second before clearing his throat, causing Audrey to look up from her book towards him._

"_Percy, what are you doing here?" She asked, annoyed by his presence._

"_Please don't send me away. Penny's been petrified." He said simply._

_Audrey didn't know what to say. She reached over and pulled him close, hugging him tightly._

"_I'm sorry Audrey, I don't know what I did to make you cross with me, but I'm sorry for it." Percy said putting his arms around her. He took in the feeling he got from being with her again, and it almost masked the pain and worry he had for Penny._

"_That's not important now." Audrey said pulling away from him. "How did this happen?" She asked. She couldn't understand the events of the past few months, but she knew that all these people getting petrified wasn't a good thing._

"_I'm not exactly sure." Percy said looking down at his hands which were still fumbling with his robe. _

_Audrey grabbed them, and held them tight. She looked into his eyes. "She'll be fine." She said simply._

_Percy looked back into Audrey's eyes, and watched as they filled with pain as she reassured him. He didn't understand it, why did looking at him cause her so much pain?_

"_I feel completely useless." Percy said, knowing that if he mentioned her feelings, she would only deny being upset._

"_I know, but as soon as they can figure what's happening to everyone, they can stop it. You've just got to try your best to help everyone stay out of harms way." Audrey said._

"_I've already failed at that." Percy said looking down. "I wasn't even there to help my girlfriend." He whispered._

"_You can't beat yourself up over it." She said. Audrey looked up and caught eyes with Fred who smiled at her. She gave him a weak smile back, letting him know that it wasn't the joyous occasion he was thinking it was._

_Percy watched the exchange, wondering what it meant. It seemed like every time he saw Audrey she was either with Fred or both of the twins, and he couldn't quite understand what had sparked that. "Are you and Fred, um, together?" he asked, clearing his throat, embarrassed that he was asking._

_Audrey shook her head. "Not exactly." She said. "He's been taking care of me." She explained._

"_What did I do to make you so angry at me?" Percy asked._

_Audrey looked down. "It's complicated." She said simply._

"_I can follow it." Percy said grabbing her hand._

_Audrey shook her head, and pulled her hand away. "Now's not really the time. Do you just want to study, like the old days?" She asked giving him a smile. _

_Percy nodded, knowing that Audrey didn't want to talk anymore. "That would be nice." He said._

_The rest of the night the two sat together in near silence reading and writing their essays. It seemed like every time Percy's mind would wonder to Penny Audrey would know, and put her hand on his, silently letting him know she was there. After everyone had left the common room to go to bed Audrey shut her book and stood up. _

"_It's late." She said._

_Percy stood up, and pulled her close, hugging her tightly. "Thank you." He said, not letting her go. He felt her arms tighten around him as she hugged him back._

"_I missed you." She said before letting go. "Goodnight Percy." She said with a smile._

"_Goodnight Audrey." Percy said as he watched her walk off towards her bedroom. He didn't go up to his room though. Instead he sat on the couch, and put his head in his hands. He finally lost control of his feelings and let his tears fall. He couldn't stop blaming himself. Had he been there he could have done something, even if he would have been the one to be petrified. His heart ached with the worry he felt for what would happen next. He had never felt so useless, so weak in his entire life, and it tore at him. He felt the same way he had the first night without Audrey, as if he had been torn away from the one thing he relied on the keep his sanity, and his happiness. He felt lost without her, and he had grown to rely on Penny, no he seemed without both. Audrey was there, but it was different now, she looked as if the very presence of him was painful, and I couldn't figure out why; what had he done to hurt her so badly. Percy's mind raced for hours as he sat near the fire, finally as he could hardly keep his eyes open, he drug himself to bed, to a fitful night's sleep._

Molly crawled across the bed and pulled her dad in for a hug. "Don't be sad." She said.

Percy smiled. "I'm not sad anymore." He said pulling her into his lap. "How could I ever manage to be sad when I have you and your sister always making me so happy?" he asked. Molly could only giggle happily her dad hugged her.

"Was Penny ok?" Lucy asked, sitting on the end of the bed.

Percy nodded. "After your Aunt Ginny was taken into the chamber and your Uncle saved her they were able to heal everyone." He said. "She got a job at the ministry after the war. You've probably seen her walking around sometime when you've come to see me at work." He explained.

"That's good." Lucy said, looking deep in thought.

Molly looked at Audrey very seriously. "I'm glad Daddy chose you and not Penny in the end." She said.

Audrey smiled and ruffled Molly's hair. "You know, I am too." She said. She stood up. "Now, I'm thinking I should go cook us a big breakfast, what do you think?" she asked.

"Yea!" Molly said standing up, and pulling her dad, downstairs to help make breakfast.

Audrey was about out of the room when she turned back to see Lucy hadn't moved. She walked back over and sat next to her on the bed. "What's got you thinking so hard?" She asked.

"You and dad. I guess I never thought about you guys not getting along, or being with other people." Lucy said.

Audrey smiled lovingly at her. "There are some bumps along the road, but we're better for it." She explained. "Every bump along the way brought up to where we are today, and I couldn't imagine having to spend my life without your dad and you guys." She added.

Lucy nodded, and hugged her mom.

"Breakfast?" Audrey asked, hugging her daughter back.

Lucy nodded as she pulled away. "Yea, that sounds great." She said with a smile.

"Good, cause you're sister's expecting it, and there's no arguing with her once she's got her mind set." Audrey said with a bit of a laugh.

Lucy groaned. "Don't I know." She said.

Audrey just laughed as she put her arm around her daughter's shoulder, and walked downstairs together with her to join Percy and Molly in the kitchen.


	9. The Letter and the Sweets Shop

*Sorry again for the wait everyone. I PROMISE there will be more to come very very soon. No more long waits!!!

* * *

"Mum, when you and dad talk about the fight you had 7th year was it because of Penny?" Lucy asked from where she sat on the counter in Audrey's shop.

Audrey looked up from where she was arranging the sweets in her muggle sweet section. "No, I gave up fighting with your dad about Percy." She replied.

"Well then what was it about?" Lucy asked.

"My shop." Audrey said with a shrug.

Lucy was about to ask more when Molly ran in followed by George. "Hi mum!" Molly yelled as she ran by.

Audrey raised an eyebrow at George. "What's that about?" She asked.

"Beats me." George said with a shrug.

"I have a bone to pick with you, Mr. Weasley." Audrey said leaning against the counter.

"And why's that, Mrs. Weasley?" George ask.

"It certainly couldn't be because you bet my children that I wouldn't know who told them to ask about Percy and my first fight." She said.

George just smiled. "What's the fun in a story if it doesn't have some conflict?" George asked.

"Because there wasn't any conflict between the end of school and now." Audrey said.

"The war?" Lucy asked, perking up.

Audrey turned to her. "Yes, but I don't even know if we're going to talk about that." She said.

"Why not? We aren't kids anymore." Lucy said.

"Don't you think you've learned enough about me and your dad yet?" Audrey asked with a sigh.

"No." Lucy said simply.

"See what you've started?" Audrey asked George.

"Don't look at me, for once I didn't do it." George said.

"Make a note that may be the first and only time that can be said." Audrey laughed.

Molly ran in and grabbed a piece of candy out of one of the jars. She jumped up on the counter next to Lucy. "What are we learning about now?" She asked.

Audrey looked at her, wondering whether or not to ask about what she had been up to, but decided it was best not to know. "Your sister asked about 7th year." She explained.

"What happened 7th year?" Molly asked.

"I was just about to tell you." Audrey said with a smile.

_Audrey and Percy sat together at the table in the Weasley's kitchen staring at an envelope. _

"_Well, read it." Audrey said pushing it towards Percy._

"_No, you read it." He said pushing it back towards her._

"_Percy it's your letter from the ministry, I didn't apply there remember?" She asked._

"_How about I open it, and you read it?" He asked._

_She smiled. "Alright, fine." She said with a smile._

_Percy reached over and grabbed the letter. He slowly opened it, and then through the letter over to Audrey._

"_Ok, now read it." He said._

_She shook her head and grabbed the envelope. She pulled the letter out, and opened it. Before you could read it she looked back at Percy. "Are you sure you don't want to read it?" She asked._

"_No, just read it." He said closing his eyes._

_As Audrey read the letter a smiled crept onto her face. When she didn't say anything Percy opened his eyes, and looked at her expectantly. _

"_Well, what does it say?" He asked._

"_You got the job." She said._

"_What? Are you serious?" He asked jumping up. _

_She stood up and pulled him in for a hug. "Congratulations Percy." She said. Before she knew what was happing Percy leaned in and kissed her. She jumped back, shocked._

"_I'm sorry, I shouldn't have." Percy said, looking nervous._

_Audrey shook her head. "No, it just caught me off guard." She said._

"_Audrey, put in your application to the ministry too, we should do this together." Percy said excitedly._

_  
"Percy I have my shop to run." She explained. _

"_You could do so much more then that though." He grabbed her hand. "You're not cut out to be some lowly shop owner, Audrey." He said._

_Audrey pulled her hands away from him. "How dare you. That shop is the only thing I have left of my parents, and you're looking down on me for wanting to keep that?" She asked. She turned around, and walked towards the door._

_  
"Where are you going Audrey? I didn't mean it that way." He said running after her._

"_I'm going home. Have a good night Percy." She said slamming the door behind her. When she reached the yard she immediately apparated back to her house._

"_Hello?" Ed asked walking into the kitchen where Audrey had apparated._

"_It's just me." Audrey said, she wiped away a tear as he walked in._

_  
He sighed. "What did Percy do now?" He asked putting on a pot of water._

_Audrey sat at the table. "Apparently I'm not good enough because I'm not working for the ministry." She said._

"_You shouldn't take what he said too seriously. You know how highly he thinks about the ministry. I'm sure he doesn't feel like you're any less of a person because you're not working there." Ed said._

"_All I've wanted for years was to open this shop; I just figured that if anyone would know how important it would be to me it would be Percy." She said sadly._

_Ed poured two cups of tea and set one down in front of Audrey. Suddenly they heard a loud snap from the living room. Ed sat the other cup down, across from Audrey._

"_Just listen to what he has to say." He said._

"_You're on the wrong side." Audrey said shaking her head._

"_I'm on you're side, you'll see." He said before he walked away._

"_Audrey?" Percy asked walking into the kitchen._

"_Just let yourself into my house, why don't you." Audrey said to him._

_Percy sat down across from her. "Was Ed here?" He asked looking at the cup of tea._

"_It's for you." She said rolling her eyes._

"_Oh." Percy said. "Please don't be mad at me Audrey. You took what I said completely wrong." He explained._

"_So I took 'lowly shop owner' the wrong way? What way did you mean it in exactly?" She asked._

"_I wasn't thinking." Percy said grabbing her hand._

"_You never do." She said._

"_That's not fair." Percy said._

"_You know how much this shop means to me." Audrey said._

"_I know. I'm sorry Audrey." He said. He looked her in the eyes. "Please forgive me." He said._

"_I can't stand knowing that you think I'm less of a person because I don't work for the ministry." Audrey said._

"_I don't." Percy said._

"_Prove it, then we'll talk." Audrey said standing up and walking away. Behind her she heard a loud snap, she didn't even turn to see that he had left._

_That night Audrey sat on her couch reading a book by the fire. _

"_It's late, and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." Ed said. _

"_I'll be done in a bit." Audrey said._

_Ed nodded, and put his hand on her shoulder, the way he always did. "He'll come through." _

"_I've gotten in a bit over my head with this one." Audrey said with a sigh._

"_He'll get there." Ed said._

"_I think he may already be there." She said quietly._

"_Lack of sleep won't make anything better." Ed reminded her._

"_Alright, alright." Audrey said shutting her book. "I'm going." She said walking up to bed._

"_Good night." Ed said with a smile._

"_Good night." She replied as she went up to bed._

"Well that doesn't answer anything!" Lucy said.

Audrey laughed. "I'm not done yet." She said.

"What did Dad do to make you like him again?" Molly asked.

"I'll tell you if there are no more questions." Audrey said.

"Shh!" Molly said to Lucy.

_Audrey and Ed were working in the shop setting up stands and organizing candy when the door opened. Audrey didn't even have to look up to see who it was as a voice called out._

_  
"What can I do to help?" Percy asked._

"_My muggle candy could use organizing." She said giving him a slight smile._

"_I can do that." He said walking over to where she had pointed._

"_Muggle candy is a good idea." He said as he started to organize it._

"_My parents didn't have any; I wanted it to be my personal touch." She explained. "Do you think it will sell?" She asked._

_Percy nodded. "Yea, I think it's a great idea. Where does it come from?" He asked._

"_I inherited a lot of money from my muggle Gram; I used some of it to buy this." She explained as she set a pack of candy on the shelf next to him. _

_Percy grabbed her hand. "Am I forgiven?" he asked._

"_For now." She said with a smile. _

_He leaned in and kissed her softly. "Audrey, I…"_

"_What are you two on about over here? Not fighting I hope?" Ed asked_

_Audrey's cheeks turned pink as she looked down at the candy. "No, not fighting." She said._

_He nodded. "Nice to see you, Percy." He said with a nod in Percy's direction._

_Percy just nodded back. He pulled a packet of candy up and looked at it. "What is this?" He asked._

_Audrey took it from him with a smile. "It's called Fun Dip." She explained._

"_That doesn't explain much." Percy replied. _

"_It's a sugar stick that you lick then dip into flavored sugar." She explained._

"_And people actually want to eat that?" He asked, shocked._

"_It's candy Percy, the more sugar the better." Audrey said with a laugh._

"_If you say so, where should it go?" He asked._

_Audrey pointed towards a shelf. "Right there is fine." She said._

_She smiled, feeling that things were finally falling into place. Her shop would be open soon, Percy would be working at the ministry and finally they were things were falling into place with them too. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but somewhere between the end of the school year, and Penny and Percy going separate ways, she figures he finally realized just how perfectly they both fit into every section of each other's lives._

Molly looked at her Mum with a smile. "Dad finally realized he loved you, didn't he?" She asked.

Audrey smiled back. "I think so, but I don't know exactly when it happened."

"But thank goodness it did, we could have been much worse off with that Penny." George said kissing Audrey's cheek. "I've got to get back to the shop. I'm going to take some of these." He said grabbing a handful of chocolates.

Audrey smiled. "Enjoy." She said waving as he left. "Now girls, who wants to help me put the new candy out?" She asked.

The girls groaned. "Do we have to?" Lucy asked.

Audrey shook her head. "No, go have fun." She said shooing them away.

"Thanks Mum!" The girls yelled in unison as they ran off.

Audrey looked over at the counter at the photo she had gotten from Percy years ago, and sighed. She just didn't know whether to talk to the girls about what happened next or not. She was torn between wanting them to know the history of their family and not wanting to expose them to the pain and fear that helped bring their family closer together. She didn't want them to be mad at their father for the choices he made back then, and she certainly didn't want to upset them with the world they were so lucky not to know. But the voice inside her kept arguing that if any piece of history was important for them to know, this piece was it.

She ran her fingers through her hair, as she made up her mind. She would tell them.


	10. No Matter What

That night after they had put the girls to bed Percy and Audrey sat in bed together, Percy finishing up paperwork and Audrey fiddling with blanket pretending to read a book. Every few minutes her eyes would turn to Percy as she watched him nervously. She knew there was no reason to even approach Percy about discussing the war with the girls without a proper plan because she'd never be given a chance to succeed. Her thoughts were interrupted when Percy closed his book, and turned to her.

"Well, what is it?" he asked.

"What's what?" Audrey asked caught off-guard.

"You've been staring at me for the last 5 minutes. Obviously you want to say something." Percy explained.

Audrey sat up, feeling a bit defeated already. "I haven't come up with my battle plan yet." She said.

He smiled. "A battle plan?" He asked.

"You're ruthless and you know it. This is the sort of discussion that I won't be able to get a word in edgewise unless I'm prepared." She explained.

"Are we having another child?" Percy asked, looking at her with obvious confusion.

"Not unless you're pregnant." Audrey said. Percy opened his mouth to say something, but Audrey cut him off. "I want to talk to the girls about what happened after we got out of Hogwarts." She said.

"The shop?" Percy asked.

"They already know about the shop. I'm talking further out." She said.

"The war." Percy said finally understanding where she was going with the conversation.

"I think they ought to know." She said.

He didn't say anything for a minute as he thought about what to say next. A few times he opened his mouth as if he was going to say something only to shut it again without a word. After the third time of him doing this Audrey sighed and grabbed his hand.

"Say something, won't you? I hate it when I can see your mind works so hard and I don't know what you're thinking about." She said.

"They're so young." He said simply.

"I know. They don't need to know everything, but they should hear about our lives during everything, what we went through." She said.

"I don't want them to think badly about me." He said quietly.

She moved closer to him, and squeezed his hand. "You're their dad, Percy, and they love you unconditionally. There's nothing in your past that could ever change that." She said.

"I could have done so much more. Had a not been so stupid, so blinded, Fred migh…" He started.

"Stop that right now. What happened to Fred had nothing to do with what you did or didn't do, and you can't let yourself wonder what if. You know he wouldn't have wanted anyone to blame themselves." She interrupted. She closed her eyes quickly, trying to hold back her tears.

"I just wish things would have gone differently." He said.

"We all wish that, but they didn't, and that isn't your fault." She said.

He nodded. "Alright, we'll tell them." He said.

Audrey hugged him. "I love you." She said.

He held her tightly as he fought back tears. "I love you too." He said.

That night Audrey lay awake, unable to stop her mind from racing enough to sleep. As she lay in bed she could hear Percy groaning in his sleep, and once she heard him whisper "Fred." She knew how hard this all was for him; he had never forgiven himself for the choices he made so long ago, and it plagued him to know that while he had chosen the ministry over his family he lost precious time he'd never be able to get back. She closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Percy. She knew that the pain from their past would never completely diminish, but as she felt his heart beating against her hand she knew that as long as they were together they would make it through. As she fell asleep Audrey wondered how she was ever going to try and make her daughters understand something she, herself, would never fully comprehend.

"Mum wake up!" Lucy said shaking her mother.

Audrey opened her eyes slowly to see her daughters face staring at her. "What, what is it?" she asked.

"Dad! Wake up!" Molly said.

Audrey could feel what she assumed was jumping from Percy's side of the bed.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked sitting up quickly.

"It's not an emergency, don't worry." Audrey reassured him.

He looked confused for a second before leaning against the headboard. "Then why am I being woken up so early on my day off?" He asked.

"Mum said you would tell us about the war." Lucy said.

"You told them already?" Percy asked.

"Contingency plan." Audrey explained as she wiped her eyes.

"United front my arse." Percy mumbled.

"Language." Audrey scolded.

"Sorry." He said. He pulled his watch off the night stand and attempted to read it, having no luck he reached over and pulled his glassed on. "It's 5 o'clock in the morning." He groaned.

"The sun's up that means it's daytime." Molly said.

"You can't argue with her logic." Audrey said with a shrug.

"I can when it's 5 o'clock on my day off." He replied.

"Tell us what happened next." Lucy insisted.

"Alright alright." Percy said. "Audrey, go on." He nudged.

"Well, by this time your dad and I were dating. I ran my shop and he worked for the ministry. I no longer lived with Uncle Ed, I lived above my shop, and dad lived in a small place near the ministry." Audrey explained.

"So what happened?" Lucy asked impatiently.

"I'm getting there." Audrey said.

_Audrey sat anxiously fumbling with the table cloth on Percy's table. She had apparated in over and hour ago and she was still waiting for him to return. News of Cedric Diggory's death had spread, and she was so worried. There was so much talk about Harry Potter and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, and every story conflicted with the last, she didn't know what to think. _

_Just then she heard a snap in the room next to her causing her to jump up. She quickly walked towards the noise._

"_Audrey, is that you?" Percy asked._

"_It's me." She replied, finally making it into the living room. She pulled him in for a hug. "I've heard about the Diggory boy, it's so sad." She said._

"_It's quite a tragic incident." Percy replied. He took off his cloak and hung it up in the hall closet. _

"_Have you been to the ministry?" She asked._

"_Yes, I came home to get a few minutes rest before going back." He explained as he walked towards the kitchen._

"_What's happened? They're saying he's back." Audrey said following behind him_

_Percy stopped dead in his tracks, and spun around. "He is not back." He said._

"_Harry saw him." She said looking at him, shocked by his answer._

"_Harry Potter is a trouble maker and he doesn't know what he's talking about." He said simply._

"_Percy Weasley, Harry Potter has been incredibly good to your family and he's best mates with your brother, how could you say that about him?" She asked._

"_He's lying about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's return. He's a trouble maker and there's certainly something not right about him." Percy said._

"_What are you going on about, lying? Why would he lie about such a thing?" She asked sitting back down at the kitchen table. _

_Percy pulled two cups out of the cupboard and with a flick of his wand he filled them with tea. He put a cup in front of her as he sat down. "I don't want to discuss this. It's all rubbish and you don't need to get worked up about it." He said as he pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes._

"_In what world is His return rubbish?" Audrey asked._

"_In this one, and stop saying 'his return' there isn't a shred of truth to it." Percy said._

_Audrey couldn't believe the word's she was hearing. How could the ministry possibly believe that Harry Potter had lied, why weren't they taking this seriously? She frowned as she took a sip of her tea._

"_Percy, this can't be ignored." She said._

"_Audrey I implore you to stop discussing this." He said looking at her, his annoyance becoming obvious in his tone._

"_Don't get annoyed with me. This is not the sort of thing that can be ignored and if Harry Potter says that that boy was killed by You-Know-Who then I believe him, and the ministry had better step up and take immediate action." She said, holding her ground._

"_You're being ridiculous." Percy said._

"_Am I?" She said. "You tell me you think that boy just up and died and I'm the ridiculous one?"_

"_Cedric Diggory's death was a tragic accident, but it does not suggest that He has returned." Like clockwork Percy repeated the statement he'd so obviously been trained to say._

"Don't give me that Ministry line!" Audrey spat back, loosing her temper. "I can't believe you're going to chose to hide behind ignorance."

"Don't preach to me, Audrey. The ministry knows what they're talking about." Percy said.

"_That minister is a delusional nutter, he doesn't have the first idea of what he's talking about." She said._

"_I think you need to leave." Percy said, unable to process any other response to such a statement._

_Audrey didn't budge. "No." She said._

"_Audrey, don't make me." He threatened pulling out his wand._

"_Don't make you what Percy? Put your wand away." She said. When he didn't move she stood up. "I said put your wand away Percy." She repeated, her fists clenching into balls as she tried to calm herself._

_He stood up, getting face-to-face with her, still not lowering his wand. "Take it back." He said._

"_I won't." She said shaking her head._

_Without another word Percy was gone with another snap, he had apparated away. Audrey slammed her fist down onto the table. She gave one more fleeting glance to the room before apparating away._

"Dad, you didn't think he was back?" Lucy asked, obviously trying to take in the information she had just received.

Audrey grabbed Percy's hand and gave it a squeeze, letting him know he wasn't alone.

"At that time I believed the word of the minister, I believed that the minister was a smart and good man, and that he knew what was right." Percy explained.

"But Uncle Harry knew better." Molly said.

"You girls have to understand that your dad didn't know Uncle Harry as well as he does now. Harry was just a boy then; imagine if you said something but the minister said it wasn't true, which one do you think people would believe?" Audrey tried to explain.

"Oh." Lucy said. "But you realized that Uncle Harry was right, right dad?" she asked.

"Eventually." Percy said.

"Well, that's good." Lucy said, with a sigh of relief. "What happened next?" She asked.

"Your dad took a nap because it's his day off and he could use some rest." Audrey said as she climbed out of bed, and shooed the girls away.

"That happened now too!" Molly said excitedly.

"Yes it did. What a coincidence." Audrey said with a laugh as she shooed the girls out the door. She turned back to Percy and gave him a quick kiss. "I love you." She reminded.

"No matter what?" He asked.

She smiled. "No matter what."


	11. That's All That Matters

_It had been a long day, and Audrey wasn't anywhere closer to getting answers or feeling any better about the situation as she curled into bed. After a quick flick to turn the lights off Audrey tucked her wand under her pillow, and closed her eyes. The fatigue of the day quickly set on her and Audrey fell asleep only seconds after her head hit the pillow. In her fitful sleep all her fears played out before her eyes; her family and friends were attacked and she was separated from Percy, unable to help in any way. As she dreamed about a fierce battle a loud noise startled her awake. She grabbed her wand and nervously looked around her dark room. _

"_Lumos." She whispered, causing the end of her wand to light up._

_At the edge of the light she could see Percy's somber face staring at her._

_She jumped in fear as she let out a shriek. "Patrificus totalus." She said flicking her wand and causing Percy's whole body to go stiff as he fell to the floor._

_She jumped out of bed and ran over to the doorway. She stood over Percy's stiff, unmoving body, looking down a bit shocked. "Good now you're forced to listen to me" She said with a sly smile. "If you ever pull your wand on me again Percy Weasley I will send you to St. Mungo's faster then you could say 'stupefy' and I am not afraid to do it. I have stuck by you through everything, and I will continue to do that, provided you start showing me some respect. As for You-Know-Who, if you want to use ignorance as a shield and pretend like nothing is going on then that's your own business, but I reserve the right to tell you 'I told you so' when the Ministry decides to pull it's head out of the sand and see what's happening." She flicked her wand quickly, unpetrifying him as she sat at the edge of her bed. "Good talk." She added._

"Whoa! Way to go Mum!" Lucy said with a smile.

"Thank you, I was quite proud of it myself." Audrey said flashing a smile at Percy from across the table.

Percy took a bight of his breakfast and just rolled his eyes. "I still think petrifying me was a bit uncalled for." He said.

"Don't show up in my apartment when I'm sleeping. Besides, it was the only way I was going to ensure that if I spoke I'd be heard." She explained.

"Overkill." Percy said.

"Is in the eye of the beholder." Audrey added with a wink.

"What happened next?" Molly nudged her mum though a full mouth.

"_Audrey, I'm sorry for what happened earlier, and you have every right to be angry at me." Percy said with a groan as he got off the floor. "I overreacted." He added._

"_Ya think?" Audrey snorted._

"_Be nice. I'm trying to apologize here." He said sitting next to her. "You're the only real thing I've got besides work and I don't want to lose you. Can we just agree to cease all discussion about this situation and go on with our lives like this never happened," He held up his hand to keep Audrey from interrupting. "Your position on the You-Know-Who is duly noted, but I'd prefer if we no longer discussed it, we'll only fight." He said._

"_Fine." Audrey agreed._

"_I love you Audrey, and I just don't want to fight." He said grabbing her hand._

"_I don't want to either. My biggest fear is that we're going to be separated when we need to be together the most." Audrey said, a shiver ran up her spine as she remembered her dream._

"_I promise I won't let that happen, besides, there's nothing going on that you have to be worried about." He said as he pulled her in for a hug._

"_I hope you're right." Audrey said hugging him back._

"I like the stories when you're together." Molly said.

"I do too." Lucy agreed.

"I'm a pretty big fan of them myself." Percy said, giving the girls a smile.

"Is this the part when you stopped talking to Gram and Gramp and everyone?" Lucy asked.

"Who told you I did that?" Percy asked.

"Uncle George." Audrey recited with the girls. "I'm going to sew his mouth shut, I swear." She added.

"I'm going to have a very stern conversation with him about keeping his big mouth closed." Percy said.

"Why'd you stop talking to everyone?" Molly asked.

Percy sighed, taking the time to choose the words he was looking for. "I was misguided and oh so stubborn. I didn't want to believe that Uncle Harry was telling the truth and it made me very angry that they believed him over the ministry. You see I never really felt like Gram or Gramps held the ministry to the regard at which it deserved, and it was very frustrating to me. Unfortunately you're dad had moments where he's not so smart, and this was one of them. It just seemed easier to believe that they were wrong and misguided then to believe that You-Know-Who, er, Voldemort was back." Percy explained.

"That's ok Dad, sometimes I make mistakes too." Molly said patting his hand.

Percy smiled. "Thank you Molly."

"Did you stop talking to everyone too, Mum?" Lucy asked.

Audrey shook her head. "Not exactly, I snuck behind your dad's back for months, giving Gram news of what your dad was up to, and how he was doing." She explained.

"Until I found out." Percy said.

"Well yes, until he found out." Audrey said with a bit of a frown.

"What happened when he found out?" Molly asked.

_Audrey sat on the couch next to Fred at the Burrow. She took off a little early from work since Fred and George were home on break, and she wanted to spend time with them._

"_Your boyfriends a prat." Fred mentioned for the thirtieth time as he ate a piece of candy._

_Audrey rolled her eyes. "I think you've mentioned that already, and for the thirtieth time, stop calling him that." She said throwing a piece of candy at him. _

"_I'm only telling the truth." Fred said. He craned his head to look through the doorway to make sure no one was listening. "Mum's really emotional about the whole thing, it's nauseating. I'd be ecstatic if Percy wanted to just stroll out of my life." Fred said._

"_I don't see you throwing any parties." Audrey noticed._

"_I haven't counted him out, just yet." Fred explained. He fiddled with the bag of candy he was eating before sighing._

"_What's that all about?" Audrey asked._

"_I probably shouldn't tell you, knowing what side you're on and all." Fred started._

_Audrey sat up straight. "I have no sides. I love Percy, but you and I both know he and the ministry are wrong about the whole situation." Audrey said._

"_Well Harry's teaching us defense." Fred explained._

_Audrey didn't know what to say. She had spent so much time hoping that it wouldn't come to that, she still wanted to believe it wouldn't come to that. "At least you're all preparing. I just hope you won't have to use it." Audrey explained._

"_If the ministry keeps going like it is we will. They're only giving him time to build his strength and bring his followers back." Fred said._

"_I know. The minister is a nutter. He's delusional, thinking Dumbledore wants his job." Audrey said._

"_And your prat of a boyfriend works for him." Fred said shaking his head._

"_He's not a prat, he's just a bit mistaken right now, and he'll come around." Audrey said._

"_He'd better or else I refuse to let you date him." He said with a smile._

_Audrey rolled her eyes at him. "I don't think you have a say, Mr. Weasley." She said with a smile._

"_We'll see about that." Fred said pointing a finger at her. _

_Mrs. Weasley popped her head in. "Audrey, dear, are you staying for dinner?" She asked._

_Audrey stood up. "I wish I could Mrs. Wesley, but I told Percy I'd meet him for dinner, which I will be late for if I don't hurry." She said._

_Fred shook his head. "I will never understand how someone like you ended up with someone like him." He said._

"_Someone has to love him." She said with a shrug. She pulled Fred in for a hug. "Come to the shop tomorrow if you've got nothing else to do." She said._

"_Free candy?" Fred asked._

"_How could I stop you?" Audrey said shaking her head. She gave Mrs. Weasley a quick hug before taking the flu network back to her flat. As she walked out she saw Percy sitting on her couch._

"_Why do you keep doing that?" She screeched, grabbing her heart._

"_Where have you been?" Percy asked._

"_The shop." Audrey said standing frozen in her spot._

"_You took the flu from the shop downstairs?" Percy asked._

"_Not exactly." Audrey said._

"_Where were you Audrey?" Percy asked._

"_Why does it matter?" Audrey asked._

_  
"You were visiting my family, weren't you?" He asked._

"_They're my friends." Audrey said looking at the floor._

_Percy looked at her, unblinking. "You're supposed to be on my side." He said._

_Audrey met his gaze. "I don't want to be on any side, Percy. I love you, no matter what, but I don't want to give up my life just to appease you." She explained._

_Percy grabbed her hand. "People are watching every move I make; I can't be affiliated with them in any way." He said._

"Dad that's horrible!" Lucy scolded.

"I know. I made a lot of mistakes when I was younger." Percy said.

Molly walked over and hugged her dad. "But you got better, that's all that matters." She said with a smile.

Percy hugged her back. "Yes, it is." He said quietly.


	12. The Anniversary

"Be good for your Gran." Audrey said as she waved at Molly before she disappeared through the Floo Network.

Audrey sighed and grabbed her bag, and headed off to her shop. The girls didn't want to stand around the shop all day so they went to the Burrow to spend the day. As she walked through the Leaky Cauldron, Audrey's mind wandered. She walked absentmindedly to the store; she pulled per wand out and opened her door.

_As she walked into the store Audrey's felt like she couldn't breathe. She held her wand tightly out in front of her. She walked around the shop quietly making sure no one was still in there. As soon as she determined it was safe she sat down on the floor and took a deep breath as the tears began to fall. Her shop had been torn apart, and 'mudblood' had been written all over her walls in bright red paint. All of her candy was sprawled out around the floor and the section of her muggle candy had been burned away. She sat there letting the tears fall as she looked at everything she had worked for lying in disarray._

_She didn't even know what to do first, but she knew she didn't want to do anything on her own. She grabbed a pen and wrote a letter to Percy and sent it off to him. As she leaned against the desk, and just waited, hoping Percy would be there soon. As she waited the words on her wall just wore into her, she couldn't stand looking at it any longer. She stood up and walked over to her wall trying her hardest to take the word off, but it wouldn't budge. She went into her back room and got a rag, and got it wet and tried her hardest to wash it off, though she knew it wouldn't work any better._

_Percy walked in as Audrey was scrubbing her hardest to get the word off as the tears fell down her face. He stopped in the doorway and looked around shocked. He quietly walked over to Audrey and put her hand on her arm. _

"_Audrey, what happened?" Percy asked._

"_And you believed that he wasn't back." She said not looking away from the wall. _

"_It's not coming off." Percy said turning Audrey around._

"_My shop." Audrey said with tears in her eyes. _

_Percy wiped her eyes, and pulled her close for a hug. "I know, we'll fix it, don't worry." He said._

"_I've worked so hard for this, and look at what it's come too." She said, not letting him go._

"_You can't give up Audrey. You have to show them that this won't stop you. We'll rebuild, and work past this. I promise you won't have to do it alone." Percy said._

_Audrey nodded. "Where do we start?" She asked._

"_First you're going to go home and take a day off away from here, then tonight you are going to come over and I'm going to make you a very nice dinner, and then after that we're going to make some more chocolates, and tomorrow we'll reset the store." Percy said._

_Audrey hugged him tighter. "Thank you Percy." She said._

_He pulled her away and looked her in the eye. "I love you." He said._

"_No matter what?" Audrey asked._

_Percy smiled. "No matter what." He agreed._

"What's on your mind?" Percy asked.

Audrey jumped and hit him. "Percy Weasley why are you always doing that?" She asked.

He smiled. "I know how much you love it dear." He said with a smile as he kissed her cheek.

"Bully." She said. "What are you doing here, by the way? Shouldn't you be at work?" She asked.

"I took off to have lunch with you." He said.

"What's the occasion?" She asked.

"No occasion, I just wanted to have a lunch with my wife." He explained.

"Oh no, what did you do?" Audrey asked.

Percy laughed. "I didn't do anything. I just wanted to treat you." he said.

Audrey nodded. "Well then? What are we going to have for lunch?" she asked.

"Come with me, and I'll show you." he said holding his arm out.

"Oh Percy you know I hate this." She said grabbing his arm, and closing her eyes.

Before Audrey could take a breath they had apparated away. As they landed she opened her eyes and looked around. They were standing in a field by a lake surrounded by flowers. Audrey had never seen the place before. She turned to Percy.

"Where are we?" She asked.

He pointed over to where there was a picnic laid out. "It's the anniversary of when we got engaged." He said with a smile.

Audrey covered her mouth. "Oh Percy! I completely forgot. I don't even know how." She said shocked.

He smiled and grabbed her hand, pulling her towards the picnic. "It's alright; you've had a lot on your mind." He said.

Audrey sat down and took a deep breath as she looked at everything Percy had done. "It's perfect, I love it." She said.

"I love you." He said with a smile.

"I love you too." She said. She took a piece of fruit out of the basket and took a bite. "Imagine where we were this time 20 years ago." she asked.

"Finally back together." He said.

"Don't remind me. That was the longest year of my life." She said.

"It wasn't even a full year." He said.

"I think muggle time works differently." Audrey said with a smile.

"Not quite." Percy said.

"You only say that because you didn't have to experience muggle life." She said.

"I wouldn't have known what to do with myself." He said shaking his head.

Audrey laughed a bit. "You would have stuck out like a sore thumb, but the cutest sore thumb I've ever seen." She said with a smile.

"Cheeky." Percy said.

The two of them ate their lunch, laughing and reminiscing for hours. Percy flicked his wand and packed the remainder of the lunch up before grabbing Audrey's hand.

"I'd better take you back to the shop." He said.

"One of us has to get some work done today." Audrey said with a smile.

"Oh you're absolutely going back to work now." Percy said shaking his head. Before Audrey could say anything else he pulled her with him as he apparated back to the shop.

Audrey landed on her feel and held he arms out to steady herself. "Unnecessary." She said.

Percy just smiled. "My mum's making a dinner for us and the girls tonight. I'm sure the rest of the brood will end up dropping by as well." He said, changing the subject.

"What's a celebration without family?" Audrey asked.

"I wouldn't know, I've never had one." Percy said.

The door opened as a couple of customers walked in. Audrey smiled and welcomed them in before turning to Percy. "Alright, I have to work. So do you." She said kissing his cheek and nudging him off towards the door.

"Goodbye Audrey, I loooove you." Percy said obnoxiously loud from the door before he left.

Audrey's cheeks turned bright pink as she smiled at the customers. "My husband." She said rolling her eyes.

That night Audrey and Percy went off to the Burrow to join the rest of the family for their dinner.

"Oh good, you two are here. I was worried we were going to have to have a party for your anniversary without you." Mr. Weasley said with a smile.

"Better late than never." Audrey said with a smile as she gave him a hug.

"A very Weasley statement." He said.

"She was born a Weasley, she just didn't know it." Percy said.

"I knew all along." Audrey said.

"Mum, Dad, we've made you dinner." Lucy said running into the room.

"Did you? Is it good?" Audrey asked.

Lucy stopped and looked at her mum confused. "Of course, Gran made it." Lucy said.

Percy ruffled her hair a bit. "It must be great then." He said with a smile.

"Is that Audrey and Percy?" Mrs. Weasley asked looking into the room from the kitchen.

"It is." Percy said giving his mum a hug.

Audrey followed suit. "Thank you for the dinner Molly." She said.

"It's nothing, the girls and I had a good time." Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.

"Good." Audrey said with a smile.

"Audrey Weasley, is that you?" George said loudly from the living room.

"No, not at all." Audrey said. She gave one quick smile to Mrs. Weasley before turning towards the living room where George was sitting on the couch. "Well isn't that a sight for sore eyes." She said.

"Lucky you." George said.

"Is that what they're calling it these days?" Audrey said sitting next to him.

"I've got a bone to pick with you." Percy said pointing a finger at him.

"Well then I'm sorry to break it to you, but the bones just aren't ripe enough yet." George said.

"You have got to stop telling the girls things they don't need to be hearing. You're putting us in an awfully tight spot." Percy explained.

"They're curious girls; I can't help but answer their questions." George shrugged.

"We are fully aware of their level of curiosity, but some things just aren't meant for them to hear yet." Percy said.

"Alright, I'm sorry. I'll keep my big mouth closed from now on." George said.

"I'll put four galleons on that bet." Audrey said.

"Cheeky." George said pointing a finger at her.

"Dinners ready you three. Hurry up." Mrs. Weasley said leaning her head in the room.

The three jumped up.

"Sorry mum." George and Percy said at the same time.

"Sorry Molly." Audrey said just a second behind them. Percy grabbed Audrey's hand and pulled her off towards the table with George following closely behind.

Audrey smiled as she sat down at the table with her family. She leaned her head on Percy's shoulder as he put his arm around her, and kissed her forehead. At that moment Audrey knew that everything they had gone through, and everything they had given up and lost was worth this moment, and every moment they got like this. She put her arm around Percy and gave him a squeeze.

"Speech!" George shouted from the end of the table.

"Oh yea! Say something." Molly said with a smile.

Percy just nodded, and took a deep breath. "Well, twenty years ago after walking through hell and back I made the best decision of my life, and sitting here today I know that every step to get to this moment has been worth it, and thank you all for celebrating it with us." He said.

"Cheers!" George said holding up his glass.

Everyone agreed at they held their glasses up before taking a drink together.

"Cheers." Audrey said, smiling at Percy before taking a drink out of her glass.


	13. The Simple Life

Audrey closed the book she had just been reading with Molly and sat it down on the floor in front of her. Lucy and Molly both looked up at her with smiles.

"What's this?" Audrey asked.

Lucy sat down next to Audrey on the couch. "What happens next?" She asked.

Audrey looked at her clock, seeing Percy's hand still situated on work. She looked down at the girls and just nodded. "Alright, cozy up." She said with a smile.

The girls quickly grabbed a drink each and the plate of cookies from the kitchen counter and got comfortable on the couch on either side of Audrey.

Audrey looked down at them. "Cozy?" She asked. They both nodded wildly. "Alright, well, by this time in the story things were going very badly. Professor Dumbledore was killed by the death eaters, people were starting to disappear and the world was not a very safe place for muggle-borns." Audrey explained.

_Audrey hung her closed sign as she looked out the window at the dark street in front of her shop. The only light in Diagon Alley was the light coming from Fred and George's shop, and it cast an eerie glow onto the empty street. Business hadn't been good lately, everyone was so afraid to go out into public places, and because Audrey's shop very proudly continued to sell muggle candy most people avoided her store more than any other._

_She turned around and walked up the stairs into her apartment, knowing Percy would be by as soon as he got off work. When she got into her apartment she put some tea on and sat, waiting for Percy. She pulled out a book and began reading to pass the time. _

_A pop from the kitchen startled Audrey awake. She looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that hours had passed. She sat up as Percy walked into the room._

"_Where have you been?" She asked._

"_You need to pack what you can, quickly." Percy said._

_  
"What? Why?" Audrey asked._

"_Just go pack a bag, I'll be right back." Percy said standing up. _

_Audrey nodded and went off to her room. She grabbed as much as she could and stuffed it into her suitcase. When she walked out into the living room she saw Percy standing there with a bag in one hand and their picture from the shelf in the shop in the other. _

"_What's that for?" She asked as he handed it to her._

"_We can't stay here very long, put it in your suitcase and then we have to go." He said._

_Audrey did as he said and looked at him worried. "Percy what's happening?" She asked._

_He held his arm out without another word and she grabbed a hold. Quickly they apparated to Percy's house, where he continued to move around collecting things._

"_Percy Ignatius Weasley! Stop this instant and tell me what's going on." She said._

_He turned to her, and put his arms on her shoulder. "Audrey they will come for you, you're not safe anymore. They've started to infiltrate the ministry." He explained._

_Audrey sat on the couch trying to catch her breath. "What are you proposing Percy?" She asked._

"_I don't know, but you've got to go somewhere. I've heard rumblings that they're going to start questioning muggle-borns and half-bloods." Percy explained._

_Audrey couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What do you suggest we do?" She asked._

"_Do you have that money you inherited from your Gran?" He asked._

"_The muggle money? Yes." Audrey said, not understanding._

"_Audrey, I think the safest place for you is in the muggle world." Percy said._

"_You mean us, right?" Audrey asked._

_Percy looked down at the floor as he shook his head. "They're watching me if I go we're sure to be found." He said._

_Audrey shook her head. "Percy, no, I don't want to go without you." She said._

"_It won't be long, we'll win this and I'll come find you the minute we do." He said._

_Audrey couldn't hold back her tears as she looked at him. "I can stay here, I'm sure I'll be fine." She pleaded._

"_It isn't safe anymore." Percy said. "Audrey I don't want to leave you, but I don't want to lose you either, and I know that if you stay her something horrible will happen." He said._

"_What's to say something horrible won't happen if I leave?" Audrey asked._

_Percy grabbed her hand. "Please Audrey." He said._

_Audrey looked into his eyes and her heart broke. She didn't want to leave him, but she knew he was right, if they were going to start rounding up muggle-borns she would be one of the first to go, simply because her family has always advocated muggle understanding, and muggle-born equality. "Alright." She said._

_Percy kissed her quickly. "I grabbed the stash of muggle money you had, you can use it to stay somewhere for the night, until you can find a place to stay long term." Percy said grabbing the bag that sat beside him._

"_Alright." Audrey said grabbing the bag and putting it in her suit case. "Where do I go?" She asked._

"_London is big enough for you to blend in." He said._

_Audrey nodded. "If I go muggle that means no magic, no owls, no way to communicate with you." She said._

_He nodded. "I know." He said._

_Audrey closed her eyes. "I don't know if I can do this, Percy." She said._

"_I promise you, after we get through this I will never let you go again." Percy swore._

"_No matter what?" Audrey asked, tears streaming down her face._

"_No matter what." Percy said._

"_One thing before I go. I need a quill and paper." Audrey said._

_Percy quickly rushed off and grabbed the paper and quill. "Here you are." He said._

_Audrey grabbed them from him and scribbled a quick note. She closed it up, and held it out to Percy. "You have to promise me this will be delivered." She said._

"_What is it?" He asked._

"_A letter to Fred." She said._

_Percy shook his head. "I have no way to get that to him." He said, looking down at the letter in her hand._

_She pushed it at him again. "If I'm doing this, then you are delivering it." She said._

"_Alright." He said grabbing it from her, and tucking it away in his pocket. He looked down at his watch. "You've got to get going, it'll be morning soon." He said._

_Audrey nodded. "Are you sure of this?" She asked._

"_I'm not sure of anything anymore, but this isn't the kind of thing we have a choice on." He said._

"_I love you." Audrey said._

_Percy grabbed her and pulled her in for a hug. "I love you more then anything." He said._

"_Come find me the moment things clear up." She said._

_He nodded. "I will." He promised._

_With one more deep kiss Audrey let go of Percy and grabbed her suitcase before using her wand for the last time as she apparated into a dark corner in London._

Audrey wiped her eyes as she looked at the floor for a minute, composing herself.

Molly and Lucy both hugged her.

"Mum! You lived as a muggle?" Lucy asked.

Audrey nodded. "For nearly a year." She explained.

"What was it like?" Molly asked.

"Lonely." Audrey explained.

"Tell us about it." Lucy said.

"Alright, alright." Audrey said.

_After a month Audrey had settled into her new life. She had managed to get a job working in a book store, and had become roommates with one of her coworkers, and her new friend, Samantha._

"_Sometimes I could swear that picture moves." Samantha said, standing at the door of Audrey's room._

_Audrey looked up from where she was sitting near the window with a smile. "It's the way it's taken, incredibly life-like." She said._

"_Was it taken at a costume party?" Samantha asked, picking it up to look at it as she sat down on Audrey's bed._

_Audrey nodded. "Yes, when I was in secondary school." She said._

"_Who's the red-head?" She asked._

_Audrey looked down at the floor. "His name is Percy." She said._

"_Boyfriend?" Samantha asked._

_Audrey nodded. "And best friend." She said._

"_Where is he?" Samantha asked._

"_Working far away." Audrey said._

"_I swear you are so mysterious sometimes." Samantha said. "What's on your mind?" she asked._

'_Where to start?' Audrey thought 'War, her family, friends, the gaping hole in her heart from missing Percy.' She just shrugged. "Nothing much. It's just been a long day." She said._

_Samantha nodded with a yawn. "I can understand that, and it's only going to be longer tomorrow." She said. "So, do you miss him?" She asked._

_Audrey turned to her. "Miss who?" She asked._

"_Percy." She said pointing at the picture._

"_Without sounding overdramatic, I miss him every single second of every single day." Audrey explained._

"_So much for not sounding overdramatic." Samantha said with a smile._

_Audrey nodded. "We've been best friends for nearly 10 years, and I've loved him for just as long." She said._

"_That's sweet. A love like that, I'm sure he can't stay away for too long." She said._

"_I can only hope." Audrey said._

"Hello girls." Percy said sitting down on the couch next to Lucy.

"Hi Daddy." Molly said, waving at him.

"What did I miss?" Percy asked.

"A sad story." Lucy said.

"Oh, did Mum have to leave?" Percy asked.

The girls nodded.

"That is a sad story." Percy said. "I have another sad one." He said.

The girls looked at him excitedly.

"What is it?" They asked.

"You two have to go to bed." Percy said.

"That is a sad story." Audrey said with a smile.

"Aww, your no fun dad." Lucy said.

Percy smiled. "I know, isn't it fun?" He said.

Audrey stood up. "Alright girls, you heard the boss, off to bed you go." She said shooing them away.

The girls groaned as they sulked off to bed. Audrey just smiled at Percy as she grabbed his hand and pulled him up the stairs to tuck the girls in for night.

"I missed you." Audrey said turning to Percy at the top of the stairs.

"I missed you too." Percy said giving her a quick kiss.

"Ewe!" The girls said from their room causing Audrey and Percy to laugh.

"Good night girls." Audrey said still laughing as she flicked her wand and turned the lights off in the girl's room.


	14. The End of a War

"Mum, what was the worst part about being in the muggle world?" Lucy asked as the girls sat in the kitchen eating breakfast.

Audrey only had to think for a second. "Either the telephone or a microwave." She said.

Molly looked incredibly confused. "What's a microwave?" She asked.

"It's a device the muggles use to make food quickly." Audrey explained. "There are buttons all over it, and a plate inside that turns. I hated that thing, if you put your food in there for even a minute too long it would practically set on fire." Audrey explained.

"What about a telephone, why was that so bad?" Lucy asked.

"Well, I hadn't used one before I started working in the shop." Audrey explained.

_Audrey stood in the aisle in the classics section filing books back into their spots. Every once in a while she would stop and read the back of the book, having never heard of it before. Suddenly a shrill noise rang through the store. Audrey looked around confused, wondering where the noise was coming from._

"_Audrey, will you get the phone?" Samantha asked._

"_Oh, yes." Audrey said. She followed the noise over to a counter where she stood and stared at the telephone. She picked up the handle, putting it to her ear._

"_Um, hello." She said. She couldn't hear anything from the other end. "Hello?" She asked again._

"_Customer?" Samantha asked walking over._

"_I don't know, I can't hear anything." Audrey said._

_Samantha looked at her like she was crazy. "Are you alright?" She asked._

"_I think so, why?" She asked._

"_You're holding it upside down." Samantha said._

"_Oh geeze, brain lapse." Audrey said trying her best to shrug it off. She flipped the phone around. "Hello?" She repeated, but the line was dead._

"_Are you sure you're alright?" Samantha asked._

_Audrey nodded. "Yes, I'm just really tired. I'm sorry." She said._

"_No worries. Why don't you head out early tonight." Samantha said with a smile._

_  
"Are you sure?" Audrey asked, she was so embarrassed about what had just happened that she would have given anything to leave._

"_Yea, you've worked every day straight for two weeks; you could definitely use a day off." She said._

"_Thank you Sam." Audrey said hugging her. She grabbed her bag and her coat and walked out into the chilly day._

_She pulled her coat off and walked towards her apartment. She kept her hand in her pocket, holding her wand tightly. She walked into her apartment and locked the door behind her. She sighed as she sat onto the couch. It had been months since she left Percy and she was getting nervous. Audrey lay across the couch with another sigh as she closed her eyes._

_A noise startled Audrey awake. She sat up, holding her wand tightly. "Percy?" She whispered._

"_No, sorry, it's just me." Samantha said. "You must have been exhausted, you fell asleep on the couch, and you've still got your coat on." She said._

_Audrey yawned and smiled, letting her wand go. "Sorry, I didn't even realize I'd fallen asleep." She said._

"_No worries, are you feeling better?" Samantha asked._

_Audrey nodded. "Yes, but I'm probably going to go back to bed." She said standing up. She had so been wishing it would have been Percy, and now that she knew it wasn't her heart fell. She hadn't missed him as much in the past few months as she did right now. She said good night to Samantha and went off to bed. She took her coat off and changed into her pajamas. She curled into bed and soon fell asleep. She tossed and turned, dreaming about a fight._

"_Audrey, Audrey wake up." Someone said shaking her._

_She sat up. "What is it?" She asked._

"_Someone's here for you." Samantha said. She stood over Audrey in her pajamas looking confused._

"_At this time of night?" Audrey asked. Samantha just nodded. Audrey stood up and pulled her robe on as she walked out into the living room. She nearly stopped breathing as she saw the person at the door._

"_Audrey." Percy said. He stood in front of her looking dirty and warn, but he was really there, and that's all that mattered._

_Audrey's eyes filled over with tears and she wasn't even able to move, she was so excited. "Percy." She cried._

_He ran over to her and pulled her close. "I've missed you." He said holding her tightly._

_Audrey wanted to say so many things but the only thing she could do was cry. "I was afraid I'd never see you again." She said through her tears._

"_I'm never leaving you again." He promised._

_Samantha cleared her throat behind the couple._

_Audrey turned around, still holding onto Percy. "Oh Sam, this is Percy, my boyfriend." She said wiping away her tears._

"_It's nice to meet you." Samantha said. "I don't mean to be rude, but I'm going back to bed, it's the middle of the night." She said._

"_Sorry Sam, we'll be quiet I promise." Audrey said. She grabbed Percy's hand and pulled him off into her room so as not to bother Samantha. She closed her door and turned to him quickly. "What happened?" She asked._

"_So much, I'm exhausted." Percy said. He took his shoes off with a yawn._

_Audrey climbed into bed next to him. "Tell me, please." She said._

_Percy yawned, putting his arms around Audrey. "There was a battle." He said._

_Audrey sat up and looked at him shocked. "A battle? Where? What happened?" she asked._

"_At Hogwarts, we did it, we beat him." Percy said with a yawn._

"_Percy Weasley, I know you're tired, but I've been away for who knows how long, and I need to know." She said._

_Percy sat up, and grabbed her hands. "I didn't want to have to tell you today." He said._

"_Tell me what?" Audrey asked. As she looked into his eyes her heart stopped, she could tell something horrible happened._

"_A lot of people didn't make it." He said._

"_But you're family, they're ok right?" She asked._

_Percy closed his eyes, trying to hold back his tears._

"_Oh Percy, who?" She asked._

"_Fred." He whispered._

_Audrey stopped breathing as she took in the news. She couldn't even bring herself to say anything; she just felt the most horrible pain in her heart. How? It wasn't possible._

_Percy pulled her close. "I'm sorry Audrey." He said as his tears fell down his face._

_  
Audrey looked at him and shook her head. "He was your brother; I can't imagine how you're feeling." She said. She put her hand up to his face and wiped away his tears. "Please tell me it's over, please tell me it wasn't all for nothing." She said._

_He nodded. "He's gone. Forever." Percy said._

_Audrey pulled him close and hugged him tighter than she ever had. "I love you." She mumbled into his shirt._

"_I love you too." He said, kissing her forehead. "Marry me." He whispered. Audrey looked up at him. "I want to start over, with you and with everyone. I don't ever want to leave you again." He said._

_Audrey kissed him. "Yes." She said. She didn't think she'd have it in her to cry and longer, but she couldn't seem to stop. Everything was just so overwhelming. She needed to know what happened, who didn't make it, what was left of the world she had left._

_Audrey curled up close to Percy, letting him tell her everything in his own way. After hours of talking Audrey fell asleep with her head on Percy's chest. With a smile, Percy put his arms around her tightly and closed his eyes, falling asleep._

Molly and Lucy both looked at their mother with tears in their eyes.

"That's the saddest, happiest thing I've ever heard." Molly said.

Audrey wiped away her tears and pulled her girls in for a hug. "Your dad is a very special guy." She said.

"We know." Lucy said.

"What happened next?" Lucy asked.

Audrey sighed. "You guys are exhausting me." She said. "We can wait till your dad gets home to go on with the story." She said.

"Aww." The girls wined.

Audrey smiled. "Besides, we've got a lot to do today. You know you're dad's working late and I brought you gifts." She said nodding towards the cupboard under the stairs.

The girls looked at each other before running over to the closet and throwing it opened. They squealed in excitement as they each pulled a broom out.

"Do we get to fly them?" Lucy asked.

"Well what else would we do with them?" Audrey asked.

"Yay!" Molly said running with her broom towards the backyard.

"She doesn't waste a moment does she?" She asked Lucy with a smile. "Will you go out there and make sure she doesn't try and fly before I get out there?" She asked.

Lucy nodded before running outside to catch up with her sister.

Audrey walked over to the closet and grabbed her broom. She looked outside and watched her girls jumping around on their brooms with a smile. As she watched they both waved her out excitedly. She knew she'd be scolded by Percy when he got home and found out, he had made it very clear that he felt that Molly was simply too young to learn, but Audrey didn't worry much about that as she walked out to the garden to join the girls.

Lucy climbed onto her broom and quickly flew up near the roof of the house. "Hurry up Molly." She called as said waited for her sister to join her.

Molly climbed on and flew up slowly into the air.

"Steady Molly, you don't want to lose your grip." Audrey said watching as Molly climbed higher into the air.

Without warning Molly lost her grip on the broom and tumbled to the ground in seconds, before Audrey could do anything. She sped to the ground where Molly laid, and dropped her broom.

Molly sobbed as she held her arm close to her. Audrey looked down to see Molly's very obviously broken wrist.

"Oh no." She whispered to herself. "Don't worry, we can fix this." She said carefully helping Molly up.

"This is going to hurt isn't it?" Molly asked, tears streaming down her face as the three walked towards the living room.

"Not more then it does already. We'd better go let your grandma have a look though, just to be safe." Audrey said leading Molly into the house. She figured if anyone would be well-practiced in healing bones it would be Mrs. Weasley. Audrey sent Lucy ahead through the Floo to explain to Mrs. Weasley what had happened.

"Alright Molly, I'll meet you right over there." She said, kissing Molly's forehead.

"Percy is going to kill me." She whispered to herself before following the girls to the Burrow. The moment she arrived at the Burrow she caught Mrs. Weasley's eyes as she worked on fixing Molly's arm.

"Oh, Molly, thank you so much." She said as she sat down. She grabbed her daughter's good hand.

"It's no worry dear, kids will get into trouble, we'll have her back to perfect in no time." Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.

"Oh good, Percy would kill me if he found out." Audrey said.

"I think that's overdramatic. He may remind you that he did say that Molly was far too young to fly." Percy said walking out of the living room.

Audrey scowled. "Hello Dear." She said, shocked to see him. "What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I stopped by to have some tea with mum." Percy explained.

"Just my luck." Audrey said.

Percy gave her a quick kiss. "Accidents happen, though I was right." He said.

"I know." She said with a melodramatic scowl.

"Alright, Percy will you help me out?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Percy nodded. "Sure mum." He said.

Audrey held Molly's hand and gave her a smile. "Back to perfect in no time." She said with a smile.

Molly just looked at her mum and dad nervously as Mrs. Weasley began to heal her arm.


	15. A Letter from Fred

"What is she doing?" Percy asked Lucy as he walked into his bedroom to see Audrey's legs hanging out from under the bed.

"She's looking for something." Lucy explained.

Audrey's legs wiggled as she went further under the bed. "I've almost got it." Audrey mumbled.

Percy sat next to Lucy on the bed and just rolled his eyes. "How long has she been looking?" He asked.

"A really long time, Molly got bored and left." Lucy explained.

Percy leaned over the side of the bed to see Audrey rummaging through a box. "Audrey, what are you looking for?" He asked.

Audrey jumped a bit, hitting her head on the bed. "Owe." She said rubbing her head. "I'm looking for my save-all box." She said.

Percy pulled out his wand. "Accio save-all box." He said.

Audrey watched as a box flew out from under the bed into Percy's hand. "I should have thought of that." She said. She crawled out from under the bed, and dusted herself off.

"Here you are." Percy said handing the box to Audrey with a smirk.

"Thank you dear, the smirk is duly noted." Audrey said taking it from him.

"What's in the box Mum?" Lucy asked.

Audrey smiled and sat next to her on the bed. "Not quite time for that yet." She said.

"More story?" Lucy asked. When Audrey nodded Lucy yelled for Molly who quickly ran in the room.

"What is it? What happened?" Molly asked.

"More story." Lucy said.

"Oh!" Molly said jumping onto the bed next to her dad. "We're all ears!" she added.

Audrey looked at her confused. "Are you sure? I only see two ears." She said wiggling Molly's ears.

"Mum." Molly scolded with a giggle as she pulled away from her. "You know what I mean." She said.

"Alright, alright." Audrey said.

_The next morning Audrey woke up feeling warmth around her that she had only felt in her dreams. She squeezed her eyes shut, worried to open them and see that everything was a dream, and that she'd be alone again. She opened only one eye slowly only to see Percy staring at her. She opened both eyes and just stared back._

"_Do you always do this when you wake up?" Percy asked._

_Audrey smiled. "I was worried you weren't real." She said._

"_I am." He said._

"_Did you get sleep?" She asked._

"_Enough." He replied._

"_We should get back to the Burrow. Your family will need us." She said._

_Percy nodded as he sat up. "What about everything here?" He asked._

"_We'll deal with that later, I want to go back home." She said._

_Percy nodded and got up, stretching. Audrey climbed out of bed and grabbed a few things, putting them into a bag._

"_Ready?" Percy asked._

_Audrey nodded before they both apparated to the Burrow. Audrey stood outside where they landed and just stared at the building, remembering all the times she'd spent there, and realizing how different it felt now. Percy grabbed her hand as the two walked to the door. Percy knocked twice before walking in, Audrey following behind._

"_Percy, you're back." Molly said pulling him in for a hug. She noticed Audrey behind him, and started crying. "Oh Audrey! It's so good to see you." She said letting go of Percy and hugging Audrey._

_Audrey's began to cry as she threw her arms around Mrs. Weasley. "I'm so sorry." She said._

"_Thank you." Molly said, wiping away her tears as she let Audrey go. "We were so worried for you." She said._

_Percy put his arm around Audrey as she also wiped her eyes. "Percy kept me safe." She said._

"_I knew he wouldn't let anything bad happen to you." She said._

"_Who's here?" George asked, walking in the room. He looked dirty and warn. Audrey had never seen him look so lost before._

"_George." She said running over and hugging him._

_George buried his head in her shoulder as he put his arms around her. "Audrey." Was all he could say through his tears._

_She knew there was nothing she could say to make it better, so Audrey just kept her arms around George, letting him find even a moment of relief. _

_George pulled away after a few minutes, and took a deep breath. "I have something for you." He said._

_Audrey didn't know what he could have for her, but she nodded and followed him. The two walked up to Fred and George's old room, where George had left his things. He rifled though a trunk for a few minutes before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to her. "He wanted you to have this, but didn't know how to get it to you." George explained._

"What was it?" Lucy asked.

Audrey reached in her box, and pulled out a letter. She looked down at it for a moment before handing it to Lucy.

"A letter?" Molly asked.

Audrey nodded.

"What does it say?" Molly asked.

Lucy looked down at the letter, "Audrey, I wish I knew how to get this to you, but Percy, the pr-oh, I don't want to say that." She said beginning to read the letter.

"Maybe I should read it." Audrey said.

"_There's something special about you, you crazy nutter, I knew it from the day I met you. I'd say I wish you were here, but I'm glad you're not. I like you being safe, it suits you. As disgusting as it seems to say, Percy suits you too. I know, 'how can that be,' you say. Well, I'm not the mushy type, but I see how much happier you are with him, and I can't complain with those results. I wish all of this would be over so you could come back, I miss you. When you come back…" Audrey stopped reading, unable to go on. She looked at George with tears in her eyes._

"_I wish you could have gotten this before." He said._

"_Thank you for giving it to me now." She said hugging him._

Lucy looked down at the letter. "Uncle Fred was really something." She said.

Audrey smiled. "He sure was." She said.

"Alright Lucy, time for bed." Percy said as he picked Molly, who had been sleeping on his lap. "You guys have had a long day." He added.

Lucy yawned as she got up, and walked towards their room. Audrey put her arm around Percy as they walked towards the girls' room. Percy laid Molly down, and covered her with the blanket. Audrey kissed Lucy's forehead and turned off the light.


End file.
